This is regarded as a large-scale reform drive, directly affecting thousands of procedures that businesses and citizens undertake in their investment, production and business activities.

The move demonstrates the new government’s determination to fundamentally transform the state administrative apparatus, with the aim of achieving double-digit economic growth as early as 2026.

Strengthening business confidence

Reforming the business environment is often discussed in terms of cuts in administrative procedures or investment and business conditions. However, after many previous rounds of reviews and reductions, businesses have pointed out that although procedures were reduced, sub-licences continued to exist under different guises.

Many regulations labelled as simplified still require businesses to make repeated trips to submit additional documents, await confirmation or seek inter-agency approval. The country still has 198 regulated business sectors, with around 4,603 business conditions attached to them.

Prime Minister Le Minh Hung recently ordered immediate cuts of at least 30% in administrative procedures, 50% in processing time, 50% in compliance costs and 30% in business conditions, while eliminating 100% of unnecessary procedures.

This is viewed as a clear message reflecting the Prime Minister’s strong resolve not to tolerate the persistence of unreasonable administrative barriers, and confirming that business environment reform ranks among the government’s highest priorities.

According to Le Tuan Linh, Director of Nam Linh Garment Manufacturing Company, one notable aspect of this latest reform drive is the clear shift in the regulatory approach from pre-inspection to post-inspection.

Instead of exercising tight control over the initial licensing stage, regulatory authorities will focus more on technical standards, regulations and post-operation supervision. This is regarded as a modern approach that both creates a more open business environment and ensures effective management.

Van Tien Duc, Director of Duc Phuc Company, said that given the vigour and substance of the current reform drive, processing times would be shortened and procedures streamlined, making it easier for businesses to operate.

When administrative procedures are simplified and resources unlocked, businesses will have more favourable conditions to expand investment and accelerate private sector growth.

Ho Sy Hung, Chairman of the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), also described the latest reform drive as an important catalyst for improving the investment environment and enhancing Viet Nam’s regional competitiveness.

It not only reduces barriers and creates a more open business climate, but also strengthens the business community’s confidence in the Party’s and State’s commitment to reform.

Removing barriers to create growth momentum

It is estimated that implementing the government’s eight resolutions on simplifying administrative procedures and business conditions will cut processing time and compliance costs by more than 50% compared with 2024. However, this shift in approach also raises new demands on governance capacity.

In particular, technical standards and regulatory frameworks must be clearly defined; administrative data must be comprehensive and transparent; and supervision must rely more heavily on digital technology.

Without effective post-operation oversight mechanisms, cutting procedures will fail to produce substantive results and may instead create regulatory gaps or new risks.

In addition, many businesses say that what they want is not merely more pledges of numerical cuts in official documents, but tangible changes in practice.

This is also why the Ministry of Justice, while reviewing the reduction plans, reminded ministries and agencies to put workable alternatives in place and avoid reductions that exist only on paper.

Experience over many years has shown that the greatest challenge in administrative reform lies not in policy direction, but in implementation.

Many regulations may appear less restrictive on paper, yet additional document requirements or prolonged processing times still emerge at the implementation stage, particularly at the local level.

Therefore, according to economic experts, for the latest reform drive to achieve genuine effectiveness, ministries, agencies and localities must deepen decentralisation in administrative procedure handling, while building the capacity of grassroots officials and strengthening leadership accountability.

They must also scale up the use of technology and build comprehensive databases so that citizens and businesses only need to submit information once, minimising compliance time and costs.

Resources should be concentrated on managing genuine risks, targeting the right actors and areas that require supervision.

If implemented in this spirit, the reform will be measured not merely by the number of procedures cut, but by the substantive changes it creates, making the investment and business environment more open and enabling enterprises to operate more effectively.

However, to translate reform into genuine action, the most important factor remains a fundamental shift in how officials within the administrative apparatus approach implementation.

If officials continue to follow old methods, favouring licence-based management and the “ask-give” mechanism through which they retain discretionary power, reforms will struggle to achieve substantive results.

Conversely, if post-operation oversight is structured transparently, drawing on digital data, corporate compliance histories and clear lines of accountability, this could become an important turning point in Viet Nam’s business environment reform.

In turn, this would help remove institutional bottlenecks, mobilise business resources, and open greater space for the country’s economic growth.