Business community’ voices help improve climate The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) reported that it had passed 1,152 petitions from the business community to relevant State agencies as of the end of November 2017, and 954 of which had received replies.   The information was released in VCCI’s latest document on last year’s outcome of the implementation of the Government’s Resolution 35/NQ-CP on business assistance and development by 2020. The report said the businesses’ concerns mostly revolved around administrative reform, including tax and customs procedures, and environmental inspection. Firms also complained that a number of inspections were not needed or unnecessarily prolonged, causing waste of time and money for enterprises. Many regulations were complicated and overlapped among different ministries and sectors. They asked the State to improve the performance of funds for the development of science-technology, and small- and medium-sized enterprises. The also called for frequent review of conditional business sectors in line with the Investment Law.  The business community voiced their hope for equal access to resources and business opportunities, and asked for the serious consultation of experts and target subjects during the process of drafting and implementing laws and policies. The community proposed measures to reduce business costs, including suitable interest rate, and reduction of land leasing prices, fees at some BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects, and logistic costs.  A number of comments asked for the protection of businesses’ rights during bankruptcy procedure, and at civil courts, while calling for higher fines to crack down on unhealthy competition, patent violations and illegal inspections.  VCCI Chairman Vu Tien Loc said authorities at different level handled concerns from the business community faster than they did in 2016, particularly after the issuance of the Prime Minister’s Direction 26/CT-TTg on June 6, 2017 on pushing the implementation of Resolution 35. According to the report, the State Bank, the Ministries of Finance, Construction, Transport, Planning and Investment, and Industry and Trade, and People’s Committees of Hanoi and Thua Thien – Hue were among agencies that provided the most prompt and effective feedback to firms’ requests. VNA