On the morning of May 6 in Hanoi, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) held the announcement ceremony of the 2024 Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). PCI 2024 marks the 20-year journey since the index was established and published in Vietnam.
Attending the ceremony on behalf of the city were Mr. Le Tien Chau, Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the City Party Committee, Head of Hai Phong's National Assembly Delegation; Mr. Le Anh Quan, Member of the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee; along with representatives of various departments and functional agencies.
Commemorative medals and certificates were awarded to provinces and cities with excellent economic governance quality, ranking among the top 10 provinces and cities with the highest PCI scores in 2024.
In 2024, for the first time, the city has been recognized and evaluated by the business community as holding the number one position among provinces and cities for the PCI index, after seven consecutive years ranking in the country’s top 10. With this result, in 2024, Hai Phong is honored to lead all three prestigious rankings in administrative reform and business investment environment improvement, including: the 2024 Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI); the 2024 Public Administration Reform Index (PAR Index); and the 2024 Citizen Satisfaction Index with state administrative agency services (SIPAS).
Secretary of the City Party Committee Le Tien Chau speaking at the PCI 2024 announcement ceremony.
Speaking at the announcement ceremony, Secretary of the City Party Committee Le Tien Chau affirmed: From the very beginning of the term, the Resolution of the 16th Party Congress of the city identified improving the investment and business environment — with a focus on promoting administrative procedure reform, building e-government, and enhancing the quality of civil service — as a breakthrough solution to achieve high growth targets and complete socio-economic development tasks.
The city has issued many specific administrative reform plans, strictly implementing the assignment of tasks with individual responsibility based on the motto "clear people, clear tasks, clear timeline, clear responsibility, clear product, clear authority." In addition, the city government regularly organizes dialogues with the domestic and foreign-invested business community to listen and resolve difficulties, while actively supporting businesses in digital transformation.
In particular, in 2024, Hai Phong has completed 100% of administrative procedures at the One-Stop Service Department; fully published administrative procedure lists on the online system; waived and reduced many fees and charges for online public services; deployed a specialized network ensuring 100% connection between communes, wards and the administrative procedure resolution information system, contributing significantly to building a modern, transparent, and efficient digital government.
The Secretary emphasized that the PCI has become an important tool helping Hai Phong innovate management thinking, improve governance efficiency, spread reform experiences, and reflect the voice of the business community. This also serves as a basis for the city to evaluate and timely adjust solutions for improving the investment and business environment. Thanks to reform efforts associated with improved PCI rankings and administrative indexes, Hai Phong has risen to the Top 5 provinces and cities with the largest economies in the country by 2024, maintaining double-digit GRDP growth for 10 consecutive years. State budget revenue exceeded 100 trillion VND since 2022 and continues to grow. From 2021 to 2024, the city has consistently been among the Top 5 localities attracting the most FDI nationwide.
In the coming time, Hai Phong will focus on seven strategic directions to create breakthroughs in administrative reform, economic development, and modern urban construction. Specifically, Hai Phong will accelerate digital transformation and build digital government, while restructuring the administrative apparatus efficiently after merging provincial-level administrative units, ensuring uninterrupted services for citizens and businesses. The set target is to achieve 12.5% GRDP growth in 2025 and 15–16% during 2026–2030. The city will proactively re-plan development space according to a multi-polar urban - integrated industrial - service model, generating growth momentum from both downtown and suburban areas. It will synchronously develop strategic infrastructure, prioritize completing Lach Huyen Port, invest in Nam Do Son Port, Tien Lang International Airport, high-speed railways, and a comprehensive digital infrastructure network reaching the commune level, creating a foundation for digital economic development. The city will create open development institutions and actively propose new special mechanisms to the National Assembly, replacing Resolution 35. Hai Phong is also studying the establishment of a next-generation Free Trade Zone in 2025 based on the international "single declaration, single inspection, single approval" model. The city will strongly promote science-technology development, innovation, digital and green transformation, especially in the Southern Coastal Economic Zone toward an eco-friendly, high-tech direction. At the same time, Hai Phong will strengthen support for private enterprises to participate more deeply in global supply chains.
The city will focus on training and attracting high-quality human resources, building an attractive living environment with a comprehensive education – healthcare – service ecosystem. Hai Phong aims to develop a modern urban area rich in the cultural identity of the Port City – the City of Red Flamboyant Flowers – Heroic City. Along with that, the city will continue innovating management, administration, and improving the quality of the PCI index. It will widely implement the DDCI Index to assess competitiveness capacity at the department, sector, and local level, using this result as an important criterion in evaluating and rewarding officials.