Vietnam simplification program in the limelight

OECD has just published "Administrative Simplification in Viet Nam: Supporting the Competitiveness of the Vietnamese Economy", a new country review in the cutting Red Tape series. This report examines recent reforms, including the flagship "Project 30", launched in 2007 to reduce administrative procedures by 30% as part of ambitious reforms to modernise the public service and simplify the regulatory environment for businesses. The evaluation was conducted at the request of the governement of Vietnam and is intended to help Vietnam prepare a ten-year programme for regulatory reform. Findings were discussed by the OECD Regulatory Policy Committee in October 2010, and at an ASEAN meeting in Hanoi in November 2010. See also previous post on Vietnam results.
The impetus gathered last year with the evaluation is not being lost. In a recent interview, the prime mover of the project, the Minister, Chairman of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc reviews the success factors of the operation and lists some recent achievements, like the abolition of prior approval of invoice forms by the ministry of finance, a move expected to save businesses around VND400 billion ($20 million) a year. In many ways, Vietnam exemplies, for other emerging nations engaged in simplifying the regulatory environment for business, how to successfully review and streamline legislation (with a tip from Daniel Trnka).