Resolution 79: What Vietnam’s SOE Strategy Means for Private Businesses

February 9, 2026 Posted by Vietnam Briefing Written by Vu Nguyen Hanh Reading Time: 6 minutes

Issued on January 6, 2026, Resolution No. 79-NQ/TW reaffirms the strategic role of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in Vietnam’s economy. Notably, the resolution indicates how the private sector is expected to complement and grow alongside the state-owned economy as Vietnam moves toward its 2030 and 2045 development goals.

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On January 6, 2026, Vietnam’s Politburo issued Resolution No. 79-NQ/TW (“Resolution 79”) on the development of the state-owned economy, reaffirming the sector’s strategic role in the Vietnamese economy and setting out principles, objectives, and implementation priorities for the 2026–2045 period.

The resolution was signed by Party General Secretary To Lam and takes effect immediately, with accompanying mechanisms being rolled out across government agencies.

Strategic importance and guiding principles

Resolution 79 positions the state-owned economy as a central component of Vietnam’s economy, tasked with ensuring macroeconomic stability, strategic regulation, national defense and security, social equity, and sustainable development.

Key principles include:

The state-owned economy retains a leading role in Vietnam’s market economy, supporting macroeconomic stability, strategic development, national defense and security, and enabling timely state intervention when required.
The state-owned economy operates on an equal legal footing with other economic sectors, promoting long-term co-development, fair competition, and cooperation, with transparent and equitable access to resources, markets, and development opportunities.
State economic resources must be fully reviewed, transparently accounted for, and managed in line with market principles, with a clear separation between the use of state resources for public goods and political tasks and commercial business activities.
The state-owned economy is expected to play a pioneering and enabling role in industrialization, modernization, and economic restructuring, driven by science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation, while improving SOE governance and efficiency in strategic sectors.
Stronger Party leadership and state governance are emphasized through administrative reform, decentralization paired with oversight, enhanced transparency and accountability, and reinforced anti-corruption measures.

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Long-term vision and objectives

The resolution aims to enhance efficiency and reaffirm the state-owned economy’s leading, pioneering, and strategic role in key sectors.

In doing so, the state sector is positioned to guide and support the development of other economic segments, contributing to rapid and sustainable growth, safeguarding national defense and security, promoting social progress and equity, and improving living standards.

These objectives align with Vietnam’s development roadmap to become an upper-middle-income economy with a modern industrial base by 2030 and a high-income economy by 2045.

Specific targets to 2030

Policy area	Key objectives and targets
Land and natural resources	Improve management, mobilization, and efficient use of land and natural resources in a transparent and market-oriented manner to: Support rapid and sustainable growth; Ensure national defense and economic security; Protect the environment; and Adapt to climate change.
Strategic infrastructure assets	Develop a modern, integrated system of strategic infrastructure; and Prioritize nationally significant, large-scale projects that strengthen inter-provincial, inter-regional, and international connectivity.
State budget, national reserves, and off-budget state financial funds	Mobilize state budget revenue at around 18% of GDP (2026–2030); Maintain budget deficit at approximately 5% of GDP; Keep public debt below 60% of GDP; Allocate 35–40% of total budget expenditure to development investment and 50–55% to recurrent spending; Raise national reserves to at least 1% of GDP by 2030; nd Review and restructure off-budget state financial funds to improve efficiency.
State-owned enterprises (SOEs)	Target 50 SOEs among the top 500 enterprises in Southeast Asia and 1–3 SOEs among the world’s top 500; Build large, technologically advanced SOE groups with regional and global competitiveness; Position SOEs as anchors enabling domestic firms to integrate into global production and supply chains; Achieve 100% digital-based modern corporate governance across SOEs; and Ensure 100% of state economic groups and general corporations apply OECD governance principles.
State-owned credit institutions	Position at least three state-owned commercial banks among the top 100 banks in Asia by total assets; and Develop four leading state-owned commercial banks as system anchors in technology, governance, scale, market share, and market-stabilisation capacity.
Public service units	Accelerate socialization of public service provision; Streamline organizational structures; and Retain only public service units performing political tasks, state management functions, and the provision of essential basic public services.

Vision to 2045

Area	Long-term vision and targets
Role of the state-owned economy	Serve as a solid foundation for strategic autonomy, economic resilience, and comprehensive national competitiveness; Operate under modern, transparent, and efficient governance; Integrate deeply into the global economy; and Provide high-quality public services while demonstrating the strengths of Vietnam’s socialist-oriented system.
National reserves	Increase national reserves to 2% of GDP.
State-owned enterprises	Place around 60 SOEs among the top 500 enterprises in Southeast Asia and five SOEs among the world’s top 500.
Public service units	Ensure at least 50% of public service units are financially self-sufficient for recurrent and investment expenditure, or operate efficiently under market-based mechanisms.
Overall development goal	Together with other economic sectors, contribute to Vietnam achieving developed, high-income country status by 2045.

Tasks and implementation priorities

Resolution 79 outlines comprehensive tasks and solutions to operationalize its vision.

Governance and legal framework

Strengthen legal and institutional frameworks for SOE development; clarify functions, powers, and responsibilities across government and state economic institutions.
Improve transparency and data systems covering state resources and capital; utilise technology and digital platforms to enhance monitoring and policy planning.

Inspection, supervision, and public accountability

Streamline oversight by reducing redundant inspections and audits while leveraging scientific and digital tools.
Promote public verification and independent evaluation of public service quality, applying digital technology to enable citizen feedback and accountability.

Economic resource utilization

Unleash bottlenecked state resources and mobilize private and social capital for investment, while ensuring efficient use and guarding against waste and corruption.
Integrate infrastructure, natural resources, and strategic assets into broader socio-economic goals with an emphasis on transparency and effectiveness.

Implementation, organization, and coordination

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To drive its ambitious agenda, higher-level coordination mechanisms are being established:

The National Steering Committee for implementing Resolution 79, chaired by the Prime Minister, has been formed to coordinate cross-sector implementation and ensure alignment among ministries, agencies, and provincial authorities.
Ministries, Party committees, and mass organizations are tasked with developing and executing action plans, assigning responsibilities, and mobilising public participation in implementation.

Implications of Resolution 79 for private-sector growth

Resolution 79 represents a systematic effort to modernize the governance and performance of the state-owned economy while placing it on a competitive footing with other sectors. It underscores the state sector’s role as a strategic driver of national development that must innovate, compete, cooperate, and operate transparently in a market economy.

For policymakers, state enterprises, and investors alike, the resolution signals a new phase of reform that links strategic autonomy, economic resilience, and global competitiveness with sound governance and public accountability.

Professor Hoang Van Cuong, a National Assembly deputy and member of the Prime Minister’s Policy Advisory Council, noted that Resolution 79 establishes the strategic approach for the State to sustain leadership while allowing the private sector to maximize its potential.

Clarifying the division of economic roles

While Resolution 79 reaffirms the state-owned economy as a strategic pillar, it also seeks to narrow the operational scope of SOEs to capital-intensive, foundational, or long-term national importance sectors. These include infrastructure, energy, finance, and strategically sensitive industries.

By reinforcing this role definition, the resolution aims to reduce overlap between SOEs and private enterprises in competitive market segments, creating clearer space for private firms to expand in downstream activities and consumer-oriented markets.

SOEs as anchors for industrial ecosystems

Resolution 79 emphasizes improving SOE governance, operational efficiency, and global competitiveness. Rather than functioning as standalone entities, leading SOEs are positioned as anchors within national and regional value chains.

As SOEs scale up large-scale projects and expand internationally, demand is expected to rise for private-sector suppliers, subcontractors, technology providers, and professional services firms. This creates indirect but durable growth opportunities for private enterprises, particularly in supporting and specialized industries.

Reinforcing fair competition principles

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The resolution reiterates the principle of equal legal status among all economic sectors and underscores the need for fair competition. This is a critical safeguard for private-sector confidence, particularly in mitigating risks of market distortion or crowding out associated with SOE expansion.

Improved transparency, governance standards, and accountability within SOEs are also expected to contribute to a more predictable regulatory and operating environment for private businesses and investors.

Alignment with private-sector development policy

Resolution 79 is not designed to operate in isolation. Its objectives align with Resolution No. 68-NQ/TW, which identifies the private sector as the primary driver of employment, innovation, and productivity growth.

Together, the two resolutions signal a dual-pillar development framework: the state-owned economy provides strategic stability and long-term capacity, while the private sector delivers market dynamism and growth.

What businesses should watch

For private enterprises, the impact of Resolution 79 will depend on how effectively its principles are implemented in practice. Key indicators to monitor include:

The extent to which SOE activities are confined to clearly defined strategic sectors;
Progress in SOE governance and transparency reforms;
The development of structured public-private linkages within major projects and supply chains; and
Whether regulatory consistency and competitive neutrality are maintained at the operational level.

Ultimately, Resolution 79’s significance for the private sector lies less in expanding the state-owned economy itself and more in whether it results in clearer market boundaries, stronger partnerships, and a more enabling environment for private enterprises to compete and scale.

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