Ba Ria-Vung Tau talks ways to remove difficulties with business community

Leaders of the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau are organising a two-day online meeting on September 14-15 with domestic and foreign businesses and investors in the locality to seek ways to remove difficulties facing the business community and help them maintain operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Pham Viet Thanh said that the province will continue to apply social distancing measures on a narrow scale, focusing on high-risk areas, adding that adjustments will be made timely accordance to the developments in the pandemic situation. 

The province will consider the reopening of the economy based on the level of pandemic control, so as to avoid the missing of opportunities for economic recovery and development, he said.

According to Thanh, under approved plans, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the province will receive enough COVID-19 vaccine to inoculate 95 percent of local residents from 18 years old and above .

Meanwhile, Japanese Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City Watanabe Nobuhiro said that if the current restriction measures are not loosened, it will be hard to meet the dual targets of controlling the pandemic and boosting economic development.

He said that Japanese firms have strived to maintain production safely amid the pandemic. However, the cost to apply the “three-on-site” model is high, putting a heavy burden on the firms.

He also mentioned the difficulties that Japanese experts face in entering Vietnam.

Business representatives said that it is necessary to give businesses time to make necessary preparations before pandemic prevention and control regulations are issued. They also suggested that Ba Ria-Vung Tau assist foreign experts in procedures to extend work permit and visa.

As of September 13, Ba Ria- Vung Tau logged 3,822 COVID-19 infections, including 35 deaths. The province had vaccinated 31.37 percent of its residents aging from 18 years old./.