Hanoi (VNA) – The Finance Ministry held ateleconference in Hanoi on July 24 to discuss developing national and ASEAN one-stopshop mechanisms and trade facilitation.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc; Deputy Prime Minister VuongDinh Hue; as well as leaders of ministries, agencies, the Vietnam Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (VCCI), and World Bank (WB) attended the event.

Speaking at the event, Finance Minister Dinh Tien Dung saidas of July 15, 11 ministries and agencies connected and conducted 53administrative procedures with over 1.34 million files by 11,812 businesses viathe national one-stop shop mechanism.

All customs procedures have now connected with the mechanism,with 99.65 percent of firms joining.

By the end of 2018, an additional 143 procedures will belaunched on the mechanism, raising the total to 196, or 78 percent of the total251 procedures which will be launched between now and 2020.

Regarding the ASEAN one-stop shop mechanism, Dung said as ofJanuary 1, 2018, Vietnam officially exchanged form D certificates of origin(C/O) with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. As of July 15, Vietnamreceived 32,949 certificates from the above countries while sending 14,214 onesto them.

Vietnam is working with Brunei, Cambodia and the Philippinesto establish a system to pilot the exchange of form D C/O, and is partneringwith Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia to launch a pilot system to exchangeASEAN customs declarations. Apart from the ASEAN, Vietnam is also negotiatingto complete protocols and build a system to share information with the EurasianEconomic Union about customs declarations and C/O.

VCCI Vice President Doan Duy Khuong said the businesscommunity wishes that the Government would further expand the scope of thenational one-stop shop mechanism and make sweeping reforms on specialisedinspection.

Representatives of international organisations anddevelopment partners such as the WB, the European Union, the US, Japan, and theRepublic of Korea spoke highly of the Vietnamese government’s reform in thefield, hoping that with the help of technical support projects, Vietnam willsoon join the global supply chain.

A WB representative reported that the customs clearance forVietnam’s exports at border gates was brought down from 58 hours to 55 hourslast year, and from 62 hours to 56 hours for imports into Vietnam. The cost ofcustoms clearance for a batch of goods at border gates was reduced by 19 USD.

With over 11 customs declarations last year, businessessaved upwards of 200 million USD and over 16 million hours of storage forexports and more than 34 million hours for imports.

According to the WB’s “Do Business” report for 2016-2017,Vietnam continued to be one of the four countries with the highest trans-bordergoods exchange in ASEAN.

Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Quoc Khanhsuggested improving the technological capacity and agreeing on the principles forspecialised inspection among ministries and agencies.

Director of the Central Institute for Economic ManagementNguyen Dinh Cung called for reducing more goods subject to specialisedinspection, saying that 4,000 kinds of goods exempt from specialised inspectionin the next four years is a modest figure.

According to him, half of the goods are currently subject tooverlapping inspections by two or three ministries, or two or three agenciesunder a ministry, which, he said, should be changed soon.

He requested that 350 legal documents should be revisedsoon, including circulars regarding unreasonable business costs.

There should be a further step toward standardising anddigitalising procedures in order to complete the e-government portal by 2020, hesaid, adding that it will be a strong breakthrough for the economy. –VNA