Vietnam’s 40-year Doi Moi (Renewal) journey has shown that whenever an institutional bottleneck is dismantled, productive resources are unlocked, generating fresh momentum for growth.
Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Cuong, Vice President of the Vietnam Economic Association, made the remark in his address at the 4th annual Vietnam New Economy Forum 2026 (VNEF 2026), held in Hanoi on October 3 under the theme "Breakthrough Policies & Momentum of Localities and Enterprises."
Alongside shifting mindsets, the current reform process is unfolding across multiple fronts—from refining the legal framework and restructuring the State administrative apparatus to accelerating decentralization and delegating authority to expand developmental space for the private sector. In parallel, science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation are being positioned as the primary new drivers of growth.
"Policy reform does not automatically translate into a development breakthrough on its own," Mr. Cuong said. “The efficacy of reforms must be measured by the resources actually liberated, operational capacities elevated, development opportunities broadened for enterprises, and tangible outcomes delivered across localities.”
That core inquiry framed the entire agenda of VNEF 2026, he noted.
The forum was structured around three thematic keynote reports and three panel sessions, aimed at examining how recent institutional and policy breakthroughs have translated into resources and growth momentum for local administrations and businesses.
Another central issue addressed was why certain policies have fallen short of expectations: whether the root cause lies in execution deficits across ministries, sectors, and local governments, or in a lack of policy synchronization necessary for real-world implementation. From this analysis, the forum sought to identify emerging regulatory requirements and outline an updated "development operating system" tailored to the new growth era.
According to Mr. Cuong, the Vietnam Economic Association serves not only as a hub convening scientists and leading economists for policy research and advisory work, but also as an institutional bridge connecting scientific knowledge with public administrative practices and corporate operations.
Through these linkages, practical, real-world requirements can inform the policymaking process, while newly promulgated policies gain the necessary traction to be translated into practice, delivering concrete results for local authorities and enterprises alike.
The VNEF initiative was established in 2023 by the Vietnam Economic Association, directly spearheaded by VnEconomy / Vietnam Economic Times.
This year, the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) joined as co-host, expanding engagement among policymakers, the academic research community, and the business sector. Over its four editions, the forum has evolved into a premier nationwide economic dialogue platform, increasingly fostering international linkages.
At this year's forum, the organizers aimed to sustain active engagement with the Central Commission for Policy and Strategy and the Government to foster a multi-stakeholder dialogue platform uniting policymakers, central government leaders, local authorities, researchers, the business community, and international organizations.
The central thrust of the dialogue was to collaboratively identify institutional bottlenecks, evaluate the real-world execution capacity of current policies, and propose scientifically grounded, actionable solutions—ensuring that policy breakthroughs effectively become new resources and catalysts for national development.
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