Should the Vietnamese business environment be improved, Vietnam’s gross domestic product could grow by one to two percent, a deputy minister of planning and investment has said.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment is exerting effort to revise the Law on Investment to strengthen the Southeast Asian country’s business environment as it would help add a huge sum to the country’s gross domestic product, Dang Huy Dong said in a Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper interview published Monday.

The unnecessary, vague, and irrational regulations and conditions that business owners are required to fulfill in order to receive business certificates should be omitted or amended, Deputy Minister Dong said as speaking of the solutions for improvement.

“Hence, Vietnam’s GDP could grow by around US$1.7-3.5 billion,” he asserted.

GDP in Vietnam was worth $171.39 billion in 2013, according to the World Bank.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment was assigned to amend the Law on Investment, and the ministry seeks to reduce the prohibited and conditional business sectors to facilitate business people and investors, according to the deputy minister.

A conditional business sector is a line of business that requires organizations and individuals to satisfy several conditions to be able to obtain business registration certificates.

Vietnam currently bans 51 business sectors, whereas there are 368 conditional lines of business.

“There are also 64 conditional business sectors for foreign enterprises, but we will not change or remove them as they are committed to international practices,” Dong said.

As for the 51 banned business sectors, Hau said the ministry has proposed reducing them to eight.

“After reviewing the 368 conditional lines of business, we found that 15 percent, or 56 of them could be made non-conditional ones,” the deputy minister said.

However, Dong added that the figure is volatile as the ministry “has to discuss with relevant ministries, industries, and localities.”

He also admitted that some of the business sectors are currently banned for irrational reasons.

“In principle, only business sectors that violate public order, traditions, customs or morality, or that are related to national defense and security will be prohibited,” he said.

The list of banned business lines will be legalized, and members of the public will be allowed to do what the law does not ban, he added.

Lowering the number of conditional business sectors also means reducing unnecessary licenses investors have to obtain, which Dong said would contribute to the improvement of the business environment, and “help hike Vietnam’s GDP by 1-2 percent.”

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