Vietnam Economic Times April, 20 2026

Dear readers,

The “heat” of the war in the Middle East over the past two months has intensified the global “thirst” for energy, forcing economies to adjust their energy security strategies.

Vietnam has long paid attention to ensuring its national energy security. The most recent developments include two resolutions from the Politburo on the matter: Resolution No. 55-NQ/TW, issued on February 11, 2020, regarding the strategic orientation for national energy development until 2030, with a vision to 2045, and Resolution No. 70-NQ/TW, issued on August 20, 2025, on ensuring national energy security until 2030, with a vision to 2045.

Resolution No. 70 sets the overall goal for 2030 as “firmly ensuring national energy security; providing sufficient, stable, high-quality energy, reducing emissions for socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security, improving people’s living standards, and protecting the ecological environment; and gradually transitioning energy to meet the country’s development requirements and international commitments.”

These are important orientations for developing and ensuring energy security for the country, in the short, medium, and long term.

However, as the conflict in the Middle East has altered the landscape of the global energy supply map, creating the most severe energy crisis in decades, Vietnam, like most other countries, must urgently identify and introduce immediate solutions to maintain and stabilize the energy “heartbeat” of the economy.

At the macro level, Vietnam’s leadership has responded in a timely manner, quickly directing the flexible and effective implementation of policies to ensure national energy security, with an immediate focus on stabilizing socio-economic activities and ensuring national defense and security.

International cooperation to help address the current energy crisis is among the right options being pursued. Attending and addressing the Japan-hosted Asia Zero-Emission Community (AZEC) Plus online summit on energy resilience on April 15, at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae, Prime Minister Le Minh Hung proposed three important cooperative orientations to address energy issues and maintain supply chains, emphasizing the need to enhance cooperation and policy coordination among countries to diversify energy supply, facilitate trade, and maintain stability and transparency in supply chains.

To contribute to resolving Vietnam’s energy security issue in the face of the Strait of Hormuz “shock,” Tap chi Kinh te Viet Nam / Vietnam Economic Times / VnEconomy organized a seminar on April 17 regarding Vietnam’s solutions in response, focusing on analyzing the direct and indirect impacts of the Middle East conflict on the country’s energy supply, in particular assessing its dependence on crude oil imports from the Middle East; studying the influence of global oil prices on CPI, inflation, and production costs in Vietnam; analyzing the risk potential for crude oil importers for refineries when the supply of input materials is disrupted; and proposing solutions, such as regulating and adjusting the structure of the domestic petroleum market (with the addition of E10 biofuel), and building and enhancing the capacity of national oil and petroleum reserves to cope with emergency situations in the short, medium, and long term.

To provide readers with the latest information on the pressing issue of energy security in the context of global supply being “blocked” in the Middle East, our Cover Story in this edition focuses on solutions to the questions posed at the seminar.

Warmest regards

Dr. CHU VAN LAM
CHAIRMAN OF THE EDITORIAL BOARD