The author of the article pointed out that information about the plan to streamline the apparatus in Vietnam's political system was announced by the Politburo on December 1. In this meeting, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the need to implement the institutional reform plan to improve the effectiveness of management and administration of the country, creating a breakthrough economic development that can bring the country into a new era.
The Diplomat noted that institutional reform is essentially streamlining and improving the efficiency of the state apparatus and reducing management levels. After nearly 40 years of renovation, Vietnam has become an upper-middle-income country and is now considered a development model by many places in the world. However, in order to further develop its economy like Asian "tigers" such as South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan (China), Malaysia, etc., Vietnam needs to overcome the "bottlenecks" in its organizational structure.
The author of the article noted that with the resources available, Vietnam should have developed faster and reached a higher level of development than it is now. Therefore, General Secretary To Lam pointed out that "institutions are the bottleneck of bottlenecks", and called for institutional reform to make the apparatus streamlined, strong, effective and efficient. According to the General Secretary, streamlining the organizational apparatus is a particularly important task that must be carried out promptly at all levels.
The Diplomat noted that Vietnam has carried out many reforms in its organizational structure. For example, in the period 1992-1997, Vietnam had 36 ministries and ministerial-level agencies. In the next 10 years, from 1997-2007, the number of ministries and ministerial-level agencies was reduced to 26. From 2007 to 2021, the number of ministries and ministerial-level agencies was further reduced to 22.
Meanwhile, during the 2007-2012 period, the number of Central Party Committees in Vietnam was reduced to 5. However, after this period, some agencies were re-established, such as the Central Economic Committee and the Central Internal Affairs Committee, bringing the current number of Party Committees to 8.
The prestigious US-based magazine in its article called this streamlining of the apparatus a "revolution" with the leadership role of General Secretary To Lam. The magazine also provided information about expected changes in Vietnam's political system in this revolutionary reform.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance will be merged, with the expected name of the ministry after the arrangement being the Ministry of Finance and Development Investment or the Ministry of Economic Development; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will be merged; the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Construction will be merged. The expected name of the ministry after the arrangement will be the Ministry of Infrastructure and Urban Areas; the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Science and Technology will be merged. The expected name of the ministry after the arrangement will be the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Science, Technology or the Ministry of Digital Transformation, Science, Technology and Information; the Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Home Affairs will be merged into the Ministry of Home Affairs and Labor...
The planned streamlining of the apparatus is expected to be completed by the end of the first quarter of 2025. The Diplomat noted that, along with the arrangement of units within the apparatus, it will also lead to changes in personnel at the senior level.
The Government reduces 5 ministries and 4 affiliated agencies.
According to Party Central Committee member and Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra, based on the direction of the Central Executive Committee and the Politburo, the Government will restructure, arrange and merge 15 ministries and ministerial-level agencies. The Government apparatus will be streamlined from 30 to 21. It is expected that the Government apparatus will consist of 13 ministries, 4 ministerial-level agencies and 4 government agencies; reducing 5 ministries and 4 government agencies.
