PCI 2010 to come out next week

The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and its partner VNCI will release the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 2010 next Wednesday in Hanoi as a gauge to measure the business environment for private enterprises.

In this sixth annual survey, VCCI conducted polls among 7,300 private enterprises, and for the first time, the organisers also surveyed 1,155 foreign-invested enterprises.

VCCI said figures collected from foreign respondents were not used to calculate the PCI for 63 provinces and cities nationwide, but results from this additional survey would provide a panorama on the foreign-invested sector in the country.

The PCI report this time will also include a chapter listing informal expenses borne by enterprises in their business operations, according to VCCI and its partner, Vietnam Competitiveness Initiative, an economic growth project funded by the United States Agency for International Development.

In its 6th year iteration, “the Provincial Competitiveness Index 2010 continues to assess and benchmark the performance and capacity of all 63 provincial and city governments in Vietnam to develop business-friendly regulatory environments for private sector development,” the organiser said on its website.

In the PCI 2009 released last January, Danang City in the central region topped the ranking, followed by the southern province of Binh Duong.

On the other hand, HCM City and Hanoi fell in the PCI rankings in 2009 with the former dropping by three notches to the 16th place and Hanoi sinking by two places to the 33rd place.

Saigon Times Group is the official media for the annual survey.

This year’s PCI release will be followed by a special conference scheduled for March 18 in HCM City to provide participants an insight into the foreign investment sector in the country.

The event, to be held at the Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers in District 1, will provide foreign investors’ performance profiles as well as their perception and perspective of the Vietnamese business environment. Key speakers there will include Dang Huy Dong, deputy minister of Planning and Investment, and Vu Tien Loc, chair of VCCI.

Tags: Vietnam companies, Vietnam stock news