During its ongoing final session which opened on October 20, the 15th National Assembly reviews and passes 49 legislative projects and 4 resolutions, emphasizing institutional reform as the core of development.
The deep-seated reasons why institutions have become the "bottleneck of bottlenecks" lie in three aspects:
Firstly, the management mindset remains heavily administrative and directive, while a market economy requires the State to play a role of enabler, facilitating and serving businesses and the public.
Secondly, the policy-making and implementation process lacks coordination and consistency.
Thirdly, accountability and enforcement oversight mechanisms are weak, resulting in a significant gap between "law on paper" and "law in life."
These institutional "bottlenecks" not only hinder the investment and business environment but also distort market signals, reduce total productivity, and cause the economy to rely too long on traditional drivers. Therefore, to achieve sustainable growth, Vietnam cannot continue to approach institutional reform as "patching leaks," but must view it as a foundational breakthrough - a pillar of growth momentum.
During the 2021-2025 period, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic leaving many consequences, public investment was considered an important driver for economic growth. However, the reality is that every year, the allocated capital is not fully disbursed. Available capital is "held back" by procedures, legal overlaps, and the cautious mindset of the implementing apparatus.
The Prime Minister has issued numerous directives, continuously urging progress, but why does this situation persist like a "chronic disease"? The answer lies in the fact that institutions have not yet removed the fundamental bottlenecks.
Institutional reform, in essence, is about renewing the "rules of the game" to unblock and protect business freedom, promote fair competition, and build trust in the rule of law.
At the economic level, it is about restructuring the power dynamics between the State, the market, and society, clarifying the boundaries of public intervention, and placing citizens and businesses at the center of policy.
International experience shows that no country can ascend to a high level of development if its institutions are not reformed in line with the economy's level.
Institutional reform is not just about amending laws but about reforming the mindset and methods of development management. It is necessary to continue innovating three main pillars:
First is to perfect the legal framework on property rights, business rights, and innovation rights - the "first conditions" for the market to operate effectively.
Second is to reform the administrative apparatus towards streamlining, transparency, high accountability, and shifting strongly from pre-check to post-check.
Third is to improve the quality of policy-making with the motto "one policy - many benefits," avoiding parochial, term-based thinking, and placing national and people's interests at the center.
In addition, enhancing policy critique capacity and expanding social consultation mechanisms are also important factors to reduce "institutional lag" and ensure policies are truly feasible in economic life.
The National Assembly needs to maximize its legislative and supreme oversight roles.
There is no sustainable growth without institutional breakthroughs, and there are no institutional breakthroughs without the mindset to dare to innovate, dare to take responsibility, and dare to abandon the privileges of the old mechanism.
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