A fish processing plant. The private sector is considered a vital contributor and a strategic engine for national growth. Photo baotintuc.vn

HÀ NỘI - The Politburo of the Việt Nam Communist Party on May 4, 2025 passed a resolution on private economic sector development (called Resolution 68), which is expected to mark a transformative milestone for the country’s private economic sector.

According to National Assembly (NA) deputy Phan Đức Hiếu, the resolution sends a strong and unequivocal message aimed at dismantling long-standing barriers hindering private enterprise development.

Speaking at a recent forum in Hà Nội on the issue, Hiếu said the resolution could represent the next major breakthrough in the evolution of Việt Nam’s private economy, provided it is implemented effectively.

Hiếu traced the sector’s key turning points, citing the first milestone as the official recognition of private enterprises in the late 1980s, and the second as the business law and administrative reforms of 1999-2000, which facilitated market access through the introduction of the Enterprise Law.

Resolution 68 will reshape the private sector in terms of quality, and highlighted three key objectives, according to Hiếu.

The first is to ease market entry by eliminating administrative barriers, including a targeted 30 per cent reduction in compliance costs - an ambitious move that goes well beyond the reform efforts of the early 2000s.

The second objective focuses on strengthening legal protections for private enterprises, particularly by limiting the criminalisation of business-related legal issues, aimed at lowering operational risks.

The third goal is to unlock vital resources, enabling businesses to more readily access land, infrastructure, capital and skilled human resources.

Bùi Thu Thủy, deputy director of the Department for Private Business and Collective Economic Development under the Ministry of Finance, described the resolution as a "decisive step forward".

"Resolution 68 represents a genuine breakthrough as it begins to dismantle long-standing restrictive business conditions," Thủy said.

She added that beyond regulatory reform, the resolution sent "an even more powerful message: a clear expression of the Party and Government’s trust and confidence in the private sector".

Citing current economic data, she noted that the foreign direct investment and State-owned enterprises each contributed slightly over 20 per cent of Việt Nam’s GDP, while the domestic private sector accounted for more than half.

With national growth targets set at 8 per cent for 2025 and potentially reaching double digits in the near future, she stressed that "empowering the private sector will be essential to sustaining high economic performance".

"Resolution 68 acknowledges the private sector not only as a vital contributor but as a strategic engine for national growth," Thủy said.

However, she cautioned that despite the growing number of private enterprises in the country, the majority remained small in scale, with limited competitiveness and low participation in global value chains. Meanwhile, foreign-invested enterprises still accounted for 70 per cent of the country’s export value.

Given this landscape, the push for rapid, robust, yet sustainable development outlined in Resolution 68 is seen by Thuỷ as both appropriate and urgent. It emphasises not only addressing immediate challenges but also building the long-term capacity of the private sector to work in tandem with the State in driving national growth.

From a business standpoint, Từ Tiến Phát, CEO of ACB Bank, said that Resolution 68 was exactly what the business community had long been waiting for.

Speaking on behalf of a financial institution that serves hundreds of thousands of smaller businesses as well as business households, Phát highlighted persistent challenges facing the private sector, particularly difficulties in accessing capital and unequal opportunities in the business environment.

"Resolution 68 is a bold and much-needed reform. It is a great innovation for Việt Nam and a decisive step towards a more equitable and growth-oriented economic landscape," Phát said.

Phát added that the business community had long grappled with high costs, complex procedures, limited market access and the pressures of the green transition. "While Resolution 68 directly tackles these issues its true impact will depend entirely on effective and timely implementation."

Doing admin procedures to establish a company in Hà Nội still takes long time. VNA/VNS Photo Danh Lam

Immediate steps required

NA deputy Phan Đức Hiếu said that institutional reform continued to be the "most effective, equitable and least costly strategy from the Government’s perspective".

Citing Resolution 68, Hiếu noted that the majority of proposed measures focus squarely on institutional reform.

The resolution marks a departure from traditional approaches such as simplification or amendment, instead prioritising the abolition and reduction of outdated regulations.

“This reflects a fundamental change in approach,” Hiếu said. “If a regulation is outdated or ineffective, we don’t just tweak it - we remove it entirely.”

The process of institutionalising Resolution 68 must be executed with urgency, clarity and decisiveness, Hiếu said.

He also proposed that, alongside tax reductions, exemptions and clear incentives, the draft resolution to be submitted to the upcoming NA session should include a detailed appendix outlining the abolition of at least 30 per cent of current administrative procedures and business conditions.

"For instance, the list of conditional business sectors managed by ministries and agencies currently includes nearly 200 sectors," Hiếu said. "In line with the spirit of Resolution 68, we must eliminate at least 30 per cent of these outdated investment conditions, cutting unnecessary sublicences that hinder business operations. This must be done without delay.”

Hiếu called for the establishment of an independent and professional agency dedicated to institutional reform, directly under the authority of the Prime Minister or the Government. This agency, he said, should be empowered to advise on policy and also to submit legal proposals independently.

Workers at a garment factory. Photo baotintuc.vn

Resolution 68 sets the goal that by 2030, the private sector will become the most important driver of the nation's economy, taking the lead in science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

It stipulates that by the end of the decade, the private economic sector will become the most important driving force of the national economy, with two million businesses, 20 businesses per 1,000 people and at least 20 large companies engaging in global value chains.

By 2045, the private economic sector will develop fast and sustainably, participate in global production and supply chains and have high competitiveness in the region and beyond. At that time, there will be at least three million businesses in the economy, contributing over 60 per cent to GDP. VNS