A view of Yen Bai City. — Photo yenbai.gov.vn

YEN BAI (Biz Hub) — Authorities in the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai will enhance measures to improve the local investment climate, aiming to facilitate the operation of enterprises – especially foreign-invested ones.

During a new year meeting with foreign direct investment (FDI) firms operating in Yen Bai on February 29, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Pham Thi Thanh Tra, said the locality will focus on improving administrative procedures and resolving difficulties facing enterprises.

The province will also work to better its state management over businesses, including FDI enterprises, thus ensuring benefits for investors, Tra affirmed, adding efforts will be promoted to lift the locality's competitiveness index.

The provincial Department of Planning and Investment will work with relevant sectors to devise action plans to raise the province's competitiveness index.

The FDI-enterprise community is required to abide by Viet Nam's policies and laws on investment and business, especially those related to taxes, land, environmental protection and the rights of employees.

Representatives from FDI firms asked local authorities to provide more preferential policies and to continue building a transport infrastructure system.

They also called for greater support from the locality in recruiting employees, seeking partners and expanding markets. The local authorities should pay more attention to vocational training for the local workforce, and solving land-related disputes in order to ensure enterprises' stable development, they said.

Foreign investors, mainly from India, Singapore, Taiwan, mainland China and Japan, have poured over US$204.8 million into 21 projects in Yen Bai.

The export value of FDI enterprises in the locality reached $30.96 million in 2015, up 10.6 per cent over the yearly target. Foreign-invested businesses have brought jobs to 1,484 labourers and contributed VND124.4 billion ($5.58 million) to the state budget. — VNS