How should Vietnam act to achieve aims of Resolution 68?

Kent Wong, partner and head of Banking and Capital Markets, VCI Legal

The resolution fundamentally elevates the status of the private economic sector, which will not only be an economic powerhouse but also a leader in science, technology, and innovation. The goal is to help Vietnam avoid the middle-income trap and achieve its aspiration of becoming a developed, high-income nation by 2045.

One major objective is developing at least 20 major private enterprises by 2030 capable of integrating into global value chains (GVCs). This chaebol-inspired model will drive innovation and economic growth, but achieving this goal requires coordinated policy reform, legal consistency, and better access to capital.

As of the end of 2024, Vietnam had approximately 940,000 registered enterprises with nearly 98 per cent classified as small and medium-sized enterprises. According to the National Statistics Office and the World Bank, Vietnamese private firms still face barriers in productivity, innovation capacity, and integration with multinational corporations. While some firms have made strides regionally, systematic inclusion in GVCs remains limited.

Resolution 68 acknowledges these challenges and sets forth a framework to support private sector development. Key highlights include developing large-scale private enterprises with regional and global reach; strengthening connections between private firms, foreign-invested companies, and state-owned enterprises to build domestic supply chains; and promoting sci-tech and digital transformation.

Turning these goals into reality will require structural legal reforms, improved coordination, and practical support for private firms.

A consistent, predictable, and harmonised legal environment is critical for investment. Vietnam should adopt a long-term legislative roadmap that outlines anticipated reforms across major business-related laws. Successful models include South Korea’s Basic Plan for Regulatory Innovation and Singapore’s Pro-Enterprise Panel, which systematically reviews and eliminates overlapping or obsolete regulations.

To further streamline legal procedures, Vietnam might consider piloting a regulatory impact assessment programme in priority sectors such as manufacturing and renewable energy, ensuring new legislation aligns with business needs and international commitments.

Vietnam should adopt mid- and long-term legislative planning to limit abrupt legal shifts. Inconsistent application and overlapping regulations continue to delay investment approvals and increase risk. A number of firms have reported waiting one to three years for permits.

In May, the prime minister called for ministries and provinces to reduce compliance costs and administrative burdens. While a positive step, deep-rooted legal inconsistencies require long-term, institutional reform and better coordination from central to local levels.

Meanwhile, Vietnam must reinforce institutional transparency and consistency across all administrative levels. Drawing from Chile’s Simple State Strategy and Estonia’s e-governance system, Vietnam can modernise its administrative enforcement through unified digital licensing portals, real-time application tracking, and performance dashboards for state agencies.

This requires issuing a national regulation obliging ministries and provincial departments to standardise and publish licensing procedures, contact points, and expected timelines online – along with clear channels for business feedback and dispute resolution.

Despite ongoing digital reforms, informal fees and discretionary practices remain common. To address this, Vietnam needs to modernise and unify its legal framework from central to local levels, while increasing transparency in administrative processes.

This means strengthening national policy coordination by formalising unified drafting procedures, establishing mechanisms to resolve conflicts between ministries, and requiring coordination before new legal regulations are issued. At the same time, a decree or resolution should require all provincial departments to publicly share full details of licensing requirements, timelines, fees, and responsible officials on their websites.

In addition to revising secured transaction laws, Vietnam should introduce a national credit guarantee scheme for innovative startups and smaller businesses, modelled after Japan’s credit guarantee corporations. This would reduce lender risk while fostering entrepreneurship.

Vietnam can also learn from Malaysia in channelling private capital into venture growth funds. Concurrently, a central digital registry for collateral – including intellectual property and movable assets – would enhance credit transparency and reduce borrowing costs. Furthermore, a sound corporate governance framework, aligned with global principles, will attract high-quality foreign investment.

To enable Vietnamese enterprises to scale and effectively integrate into GVCs, improving access to long-term capital is paramount. Vietnam should implement a series of reforms aimed at diversifying funding sources and reducing capital mobilisation barriers. For example, this could be revising and perfecting legal regulations on secured transactions to allow businesses more flexible and efficient use of a wider range of assets, including intangible assets and property rights, as collateral.

Concurrently, Vietnam should continue to develop and refine the legal framework for capital markets, fostering non-bank financing channels such as corporate bonds, venture capital funds, and private equity, through clear regulations on issuance, trading, and fund management.

Ultimately, strengthening corporate governance and investor protection regulations is essential to build confidence, attract long-term investment both domestically and internationally, and facilitate the substantial investments necessary for sustainable growth and global integration.

Resolution 68 outlines a bold, yet achievable, ambition. However, translating it into tangible results demands not only legal and administrative reforms, but also proactive benchmarking of global best practices. Vietnam must build institutional mechanisms to regularly evaluate policy outcomes, adjust implementation strategies, and ensure that Vietnam’s most dynamic enterprises are fully equipped to lead in GVCs.

Resolution 68 is a new dawn for Vietnam’s private sector The Politburo on May 4 issued Resolution No.68-NQ/TW, a landmark directive poised to redefine the landscape for private enterprise in Vietnam.

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