The northern mountainous provinces are among the poorest in Vietnam and include several provinces that regularly are some of the lowest performing provinces in the USAID-supported Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI). The index measures a provincial government’s support for operating and investing in businesses. To help the business environment there, on June 28, USAID and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) hosted a regional workshop in Cao Bang province with about 200 government officials from 14 provinces. The conference highlighted detailed findings from the 2017 PCI report for this region and shared some of the best practices from stronger performing provinces in other regions. The participants learned how other provinces had overcome the lack of infrastructure and geographic isolation with strong economic governance to attract investment and growth in areas such, as tourism.

So what? Improving the business enabling environment in provinces through greater transparency and improved economic governance is critical to attracting local and international investment, which promotes economic growth and helps alleviate poverty.