(Source: Viet Nam Social Security)

The social insurance sector has made significant improvement in administrative procedure reform after four years implementing the Government’s Resolution 19/ NQ-CP on improving the business environment, delegates heard a recent seminar in Ho Chi Minh City.

Dao Viet Anh, Deputy Director General of Vietnam Social Security (VSS), said the administrative procedures were reduced by 75 percent from 114 in 2013 to 28 now. That was thanks to the application of information technology as well as electronic transactions for both organisations and individuals in all areas involved in the sector, he said.

Nguyen Minh Thao from the Central Institute for Economic Management said since the implementation of Resolution 19, Vietnam’s business environment is constantly improving.

The World Economic Forum’s latest global competitiveness list, released on September 27, ranked Vietnam 55th overall, up five places from last year, she said. The administrative reform, simplifying procedures and accelerating the application of electronic transactions have significantly helped businesses to reduce time and costs, she said. Last year time needed for paying social insurance reduced by 89 hours to 189 hours a year. Resolution 19 orders the reduction of time required for payment of social insurance to 49 hours a year, so more needed to be done to accomplish the target, delegates said.

At the event, officials from VSS as well as social security officials from many provinces and cities untied issues faced by enterprises during the process of completing or paying social insurance online, among other issues. Vu Quoc Tuan, deputy chief of VSS’s secretariat, said 11.4 million people had compulsory social insurance by the end of September. The number of people with voluntary social insurance in the country totalled 243,000, Tuan said. More than 79 million people in the country have health insurance, accounting for 84.9 percent of the total population, he added.

International Cooperation Department