City vows to eliminate hurdles for IT enterprise development

Representatives from software enterprises said they wanted to invest in many new fields like cloud services, e-commerce and database centres, but there were no regulations that allowed implementation.— Illustrative image/Photo baodanang

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Authorities are ready to solve any remaining problems that could be a hindrance to development of the information technology sector, a key industry for the country, the deputy chairman of the HCM City People's Committee said at a meeting yesterday in the city.

"The city wants to support enterprises but policies have not been updated and have been unreasonable, and State offices have been slow in implementation and have harassed enterprises," said Le Manh Ha at the meeting with IT enterprises.

"The city has tried to support and talk with enterprises to allow us to adjust policies so they can be suited to reality," he added.

Representatives from IT enterprises in the Tan Thuan Processing and Industrial Zone said while technical and service infrastructure in the zone had met the requirement of IT and high-tech electronics businesses, companies had not received full tax incentives for investment in high-tech parks.

Also, the Thanh Nhan Computer Limited company asked local authorities to allow companies to sell IT products at big discounts six months after being imported, because IT products have a short-life circulation and become outdated quickly.

They also asked the city for permission to reduce by 20 per cent prices on such products after six months, 35 per cent after nine months, 50 per cent after 12 months, and 90 per cent after 24 months.

Representatives from the municipal Industry and Trade Department replied that the suggestion needs to be approved by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The department will submit statements about the problems to the ministry.

At the meeting, the Sao Thang Joint Stock Company pointed out that even though State offices were asked to give priority to purchase IT products from local companies, companies were not required to have a fixed number of human resources or quality certificates such as ISO and CMMI.

"The Ministry of Information and Telecommunications should regularly update new trends and provide conditions to operate," said a representative for software enterprises.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Minh Hong said: "The Ministry of Information and Telecommunications will try our best to solve all problems in order to support enterprises. The Ministry has released many decrees and we would like to get feedback from the business community to make such decrees useful." — VNS