The first law-making forum – The foundation for the ‘breakthrough of breakthroughs’ in institutional reform

Affirming the National Assembly’s central role in institutional improvement

Delivering the opening remarks at the Forum, Politburo Member and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man emphasized that law-making has always been the core mission of the highest organ of state power. He affirmed: “Law-making is a central, continuous, and regular task of the National Assembly.”

For the first time, the Law-Making Forum was held in parallel with the review of the 15th National Assembly’s term. According to the Chairman of the National Assembly, this is an opportunity to “objectively and comprehensively assess the legislative work of the National Assembly”, thereby proposing solutions to further improve institutions and laws to meet the country’s development requirements in the new period.

The central message emphasized by the head of the National Assembly is that every law must stem from national interests, the interests of the people, and the legitimate aspirations of the population; coupled with this is the requirement to “strictly comply with the legislative process and resolutely prevent and combat misconduct and vested interests” at every stage of policy-making.

From the Government’s perspective, speaking at the Forum, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung further underscored the pivotal role of institutions in the new period. He stated that “the improvement of institutions and laws must become a competitive advantage, a solid foundation, and a powerful driving force for development.”

In a context where global and regional dynamics are changing rapidly, and the country faces a historic opportunity for fast and sustainable development, the Deputy Prime Minister affirmed that “institutions and laws play a crucial and decisive role”, thereby emphasizing the need to regard institutional reform as the “breakthrough of breakthroughs” in the development strategy.

Accordingly, the Government is committed to continuing to innovate in law-making thinking, strengthening coordination with the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee in both legislative drafting and law enforcement, considering this as a central axis to unlock various resources, from the digital economy, green economy, circular economy to energy transition and innovation.

A notable point at the Forum was the deeper participation of stakeholders "in the field” – where laws are applied daily, including ministries, sectors, localities, experts, scientists, and the business community. Many papers presented showed a two-sided picture: while the legal framework across multiple areas is relatively complete, its implementation still lags behind development requirements.

Deputy Head of the Committee on Science, Technology and Environment Nguyen Phuong Tuan directly pointed out that in the field of science, technology, and innovation, “up to now, the legal framework is basically quite complete; the main issue now is how to implement it”.

This view suggests a new perspective rather than focusing solely on “writing more laws”, the core of institutional reform must place greater emphasis on law enforcement, reducing procedures, addressing the issue of sub-law documents that “distort” the spirit of the law, and enhancing the accountability of implementing agencies.

Conversely, papers on decentralization, delegation of authority, improving the two-tier local government model, as well as on the digital economy, digital transformation, and green economy... also indicate that new demands are going beyond the traditional legislative approach. The requirement is that the legal mechanism must be flexible enough to encourage innovation while still ensuring discipline, transparency, and effective control of power.

Innovating legal thinking and the requirement to elevate institutional capacity

From a policy-making perspective, Deputy Head of the Central Policy and Strategy Committee Nguyen Duc Hien assessed that “awareness of the role of institutions in development has been elevated” in the fields of science and technology, innovation, and digital transformation following the issuance of Party resolutions. More importantly, “this awareness has turned into a revolution in constructing a proactive institutional framework”.

In the same line of thinking, many opinions at the Forum suggested that, in the new era of development, state governance cannot stop at the mindset of “managing correctly”, instead, “the law must become a tool for development, not merely limited to correct management”.

Thus, the Forum not only discussed amendments to specific laws but also set out a requirement for a synchronized approach: improving the structure of the legal system as an “open ecosystem” for creativity; focusing resources on several new, breakthrough areas; developing a modern and professional legislative process; and training a law-making workforce that is “continuous, focused, and specialized at each stage”.

Notably, the issue of resources was also addressed frankly. A representative of the Ministry of Finance stated that the budget allocated for law-making work is gradually meeting minimum targets and proposed a “reasonable incentive policy for those directly and regularly involved in law-making”, considering this as a condition to improve legislative quality in the long term.

In the closing remarks at the Forum, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh emphasized that the content of the papers and speeches “contributed to clarifying many issues and innovations in the National Assembly’s legislative activities”, thereby further strengthening the theoretical and practical basis for continuing to improve institutions and laws in the coming period.

Looking more broadly, the First Law-Making Forum concluded with a high degree of consensus, becoming a “pillar for a new phase of institutional reform”, where the strategic vision of the National Assembly’s leadership met the “pulse” of grassroots realities.

From this foundation, the requirement for the next term is not merely to create more laws or amend more provisions, but to turn the commitments to “strictly follow the legislative process and resolutely prevent and combat misconduct and vested interests” into measurable practice; and to transform the aspiration of “making institutions and laws a competitive advantage and a driving force for national development” into tangible results in socio-economic life.