Hanoi (VNA) 🧸– Hanoi should take strong measures to remove barriers which inhibit the city from developing and integrating, stressed Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

Talking to the press, the government leader highlighted huge potential, advantages and opportunities for Hanoi to turn it into a green modern city with distinctive cultural identities. But in order to maximise those potentials and advantages, the municipal authorities need to eliminate obstacles in the investment environment, particularly hindrances to access to market and land, the cumbersome and inefficient administrative apparatus, he said. The PM noted the positive shift in the operation of the city’s authorities recently, showing their determination to improve the apparatus capacity in a methodical manner. In his reply to queries about start-up activities in Hanoi in the time ahead, PM Phuc stressed that Hanoi needs to be the pioneer in the work and become a start-up and innovation centre of the nation. He asked the city’s authorities to swiftly devise solutions to make its business climate more open, thus encouraging enterprises and individuals to join start-ups. The PM affirmed that this is vital to private economy development and the country’s economic growth. The PM urged the city to improve its standing in the provincial competitiveness index (24th place), saying that Hanoi ought to pay attention to developing start-up human resources giving policies to foster start-up initiatives and ideas from young people. According to the PM, Hanoi should to lead the way in building mechanisms to promote new-style economic models, and to attract and make the best use of young talent. The PM, however, mentioned weaknesses and ineffectiveness of the municipal administrative apparatus, and proposed solutions for the city to effectively address the issues. It is necessary to hasten the building of e-Government, ensure transparency, and improve the responsibility of public servants and prevent harassment to serve the people well, he stressed. IT application in administrative management should be boosted further, and information management systems must be formed towards facilitating the city’s leaders’ supervision and direction. PM Phuc described Hanoi as an attractive destination to foreign investors, noting that the capital ought to seize this advantage to develop domestic firms through bolstering connection between local businesses with foreign counterparts, especially those specialising in the support industry. The city should also enhance links with other localities, while making the most of its available strengths, aiming to become the locomotive of the capital city region’s economic development, he stressed. “If Hanoi can solve existing shortcomings, it will create impetus for the city’s expanded growth and sustainable development,” Phuc remarked.-VNA