Vietnam social insurance e-portal launched

Hanoi, May 19 (VNA)- Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung officially launched an e-portal of the Vietnam Social Insurance (VSI) in Hanoi on May 18. The e-portal, found at http://kekhai.baohiemxahoi.gov.vn , enables individuals and entities to make online social, unemployment and health insurance transactions, forming part of the VSI’s efforts to reform its administrative procedures. The VSI has so far cut 263 procedures down to 115, saving nearly 3.67 trillion VND (174 million USD) in the State budget, surpassing the goal set by the government. It also applied the “one-stop shop” mechanism and ISO 9001:2008 quality management standards at 63 provincial and 700 district offices to better serve nearly 65 million health insurance and 12 million social insurance cardholders, reported VSI General Director Nguyen Thi Minh. In his speech, the PM hailed the VSI for ensuring welfare through social, health and unemployment insurance policies. Looking forward, the VSI is striving to trim yearly tax payment time requirements to 49.5 hours in late 2015, on par with the ASEAN-6 group’s level, he said. The leader also expressed a more ambitious goal of cutting another 1-2 hours to be comparable to the ASEAN-4 group in the future. The VSI was asked to regard administrative reform as a key political task since it brings immediate benefits to the population, and focus on embracing technological advances. Together with taxation and customs, the VSI is improving administrative overhaul at the direction of the government to improve the business climate and national competitiveness.-VNA