A sea dyke in Phu Quy Island district of southern Binh Thuan Province.  Representatives from over 110 enterprises in the central coastal province of Binh Thuan gathered together at a conference on July 12 to discuss how to improve the business climate and provincial competitiveness index (PCI) in the locality. — Photo baobinhthuan.vn

BINH THUAN (Biz Hub) — Representatives from over 110 enterprises in the central coastal province of Binh Thuan gathered together at a conference on July 12 to discuss how to improve the business climate and provincial competitiveness index (PCI) in the locality.

Participants focused their discussion on analysing the reasons behind the decreased PCI ranking of the locality, and proposed solutions to the situation.

Difficulties facing businesses operating in the locality were spotlighted at the event.

Vice Chairman of the Binh Thuan Business Association Nguyen Trac said local public servants are slow to catch up with policy and mechanism reform, thus failing to provide support to businesses. He asked the local authorities to promote administrative reform and devise more policies on capital assistance, tax incentives and land rental prices, further making it easy for small- and medium-sized enterprises to foster their development.

According to Chairman of the provincial Tourism Association Nguyen Van Khoa, many enterprises in Binh Thuan have hesitated to invest in the tourism industry because they come up against difficulties related to the tourism strategy and land planning.

He suggested the local authorities build suitable regulations on land rental prices to attract more investors in the tourism industry, one of the province's strengths.

Other enterprises complained about obstacles in land clearance and land-related procedures, which delay the pace of many projects.

In his remarks, Chairman of the provincial People's Committee Nguyen Ngoc Hai requested local departments and sectors to hasten administrative reform and ensure a safe and stable business climate for enterprises in the locality.

He said businesses can make their complaints directly to the provincial People's Committee and pledged to promptly address their concerns.

Binh Thuan ranked 26th in PCI in the country in 2015 with 58.85 points, down three levels compared to the previous year. Criteria which recorded point reduction were costs to join the market, time taken to complete administrative procedures, information transparency, time taken to implement State's regulations, dynamism of the local authority, and legal institutions.

The province is one of Vietnam's major tourism destinations, and a national centre for sea sports and leisure tourism. It aims to welcome 4.6 million tourists this year, and collect 9 trillion VND (402.1 million USD) in tourism revenue.

About 4.2 million people spent their holiday in the province in 2015, a year-on-year increase of 11.7 percent. — VNS