Hanoi (VNA) – The northern province of Quang Ninhand the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) have led the Public Administration ReformIndex 2018 (PAR INDEX) announced by the Government Steering Committee forAdministrative Reform during a conference in Hanoi on May 24.

The index polled 18 ministries and agencies in seven fields,and 63 cities and provinces in eight fields.

As a result, 14 ministries and agencies met over 80 percentof criteria in the index, including the SBV; the ministries of finance,justice, agriculture and rural development, industry and trade, foreignaffairs, science and technology, home affairs, natural resources andenvironment, labour – invalids and social affairs, education and training,culture-sports-tourism, and planning and investment, and the GovernmentInspectorate.

The ministries of construction, information andcommunications, public health and transport were rated between 70 and 80percent.

The SBV scored the most with 90.57 percent while theTransport Ministry achieved the lowest with 75.13 percent.

In the category of localities, Quang Ninh continued to leadthe index with 89.06 percent, 5.08 percent higher than Hanoi with 83.98percent.

The Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap ranked third,achieving 83.71 out of 100 points. The central city of Da Nang and the northernprovince of Hai Phong was placed fourth and fifth, respectively.

Among five localities in the bottom of the index, three gotan index of below 70 percent, including the central province of Phu Yen (69.53percent), the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum (69.57 percent) and thesouthern province of Tra Vinh (69.85 percent).

According to the 2018 Satisfaction Index of PublicAdministration Services (SIPAS) released by the committee the same day, thecitizen satisfaction towards thedelivery of public administration services averaged 82.99 percent.

The lowestscore was 69.98 percent while the highest was 97.88 percent. Half of localitiesnationwide recorded an index of 81.92 and 97.88 percent while the remaining wasbetween 69.98 and 81.92 percent.

Publicsatisfaction towards access to services, administrative procedures, officials,reception and settlement of public feedback was 80.62 percent, 86.4 percent,85.1 percent. 88.13 percent and 74.07 percent, respectively.

Compared to2017, the SIPAS 2018 rose by over 2 percent.

Speaking at theevent, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, who is also head of the committee,lauded ministries, agencies and localties for improving business climate andlabour output, towards achieving the level of ASEAN 4 countries in terms ofcompetitiveness and business environment.

He asked themto spread effective models in administrative reform, improve the quality ofpolicymaking, uphold the role of the Government’s Advisory Council forAdministrative Procedure Reform in enhancing dialogues with the businesscommunity and units concerned to promptly remove their difficulties, streamlineadministrative units in a more efficient way, strictly discipline violations inrecruitment, appointment and rotation of officials and cadres.

They were alsorequired to develop e-government while regularly improving online public servicesat level 3 and 4.