Ben Tre remains on the Top 10 list of best places to invest across Viet Nam

On December 11, 2008, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative (VNCI) jointly released the 2008 Provincial Competitiveness Index. According to the PCI report, this year saw for the first time Da Nang City surpassing Binh Duong province to sit on top of the list of the best PCI performers, pushing Binh Duong to the second place.

PCI is an tool used to assess and classify the competitiveness of provinces and cities across the country. It is synthesized from 10 criteria that reflect the provincial the investment friendliness and governing capability to serve the development of private enterprises. This year is the fourth year the PCI has been carried out in Vietnam. This year PCI report is based on the poll of 7,820 businesses and entrepreneurs over all of the 64 provinces and cities (including the former Ha Tay province, which is now merged into Ha Noi City).

Mr Vu Tien Loc, Chairman of the VCCI, said that the provincial competitiveness index of 2008 showed signs of positive progress in provincial investment environment, such as shorter time for business certification from 15 days in 2007 down to 12.25 days this year; accessibility to useful information (such as documentation of laws and regulation), tax reforms, land usage transferring procedures, ...

In this year PCI list, Ben Tre province leaps 7 ranks, from the 14th last year to the 7th this year, winning 62.42 points and remaining in the group of "Good" provinces. Especially, the Mekong Delta this year sees a downgrade to of several provinces (such as An Giang, Vinh Long and Tien Giang), and 5 provinces of the region are still seen on the Top 10 list.

Following is the list of 13 best provinces, including the groups of 3 "Very good" provinces and 10 "Good" provinces.

Translated by An Chau