Vietnam will advance rapidly and sustainably when every policy serves as an institutional leap forward, acting as a powerful, wise, and reliable tool for "enabling development"
On February 1, 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 46/2026 (Decree 46) regarding food safety management for import and export goods. The objective was to enhance quality control, protect consumer health, and fulfill international commitments. However, immediately upon taking effect, the decree created obstacles for many businesses during the Lunar New Year customs clearance process, leading to bottlenecks at border gates.
In response to this situation, on February 3, the Prime Minister issued an official dispatch requiring ministries, sectors, and localities to urgently resolve problems in the implementation of Decree 46. The goal was to ensure timely and smooth customs clearance, strictly preventing prolonged congestion that could damage businesses and the economy. The following day, the Government issued Resolution No. 09/2026/NQ-CP to temporarily suspend the effectiveness of Decree 46 and adjust its application deadline until April 15.
Official Dispatch 08 and Resolution 09 demonstrate the high level of effort from the Government and relevant ministries in promptly handling institutional bottlenecks and mitigating the consequences of an insufficiently prepared policy. At the same time, these actions maintain the strictness of the law and uphold macroeconomic stability.
As the country enters a new stage of development with the spirit of breakthrough reform established by the 14th National Congress, Decree 46 should not be viewed merely as a lesson learned. Instead, it must be seen as a costly institutional nudge, driving the urgent need to modernize policy formulation and execution capacity toward the "Development-enabling State" model.
A development-enabling state must be built on four foundational pillars: strategic awareness of the pivotal role of policy in national development; advanced policy-making principles; an 8-step model for high-quality policy formulation and implementation; and criteria for evaluating policy quality.
Experience from nations that have achieved developmental miracles over the past decades shows that, alongside a dedicated and elite workforce, policy is the key factor. It can even be the "Achilles' heel" that decides the success or failure of the entire development process. Policy is not just a management tool but a crystallization of the quality and wisdom of the public official workforce, who act on behalf of the state to plot the nation's course.
This importance is reflected through three core attributes:
First, policy is a product of the public apparatus applied to the entire society. Therefore, it conveys messages, trust, and expectations from the state to the hearts of citizens and businesses. If a policy is developed carelessly, lacking heart or vision, or influenced by group interests, it becomes a source of social discontent and erodes trust.
Second, through policy formulation and implementation, an enabling state can improve citizens' quality of life and business efficiency. A good policy helps businesses increase competitiveness, promotes innovation, and creates growth momentum for the entire economy.
Third, policy is the key tool shaping the relationship and level of cohesion between the state and society. A policy process that is transparent, fully consulted, and responsibly executed helps citizens and businesses feel that they are not just subjects of impact but active participants in creating the future, walking alongside the state in the journey of national development.
With these attributes, policy can become a catalyst for social maturity, helping the business community and citizens understand more deeply and act more effectively. This triggers synergetic strength, strengthening trust and cooperation in efforts to overcome challenges and seize opportunities to advance faster toward the future vision.
The quality of a policy depends heavily on the principles applied by officials during drafting. Reality shows that internalizing advanced policy-making principles is a prerequisite for a nation to exploit its full potential. Without this, policy-making officials often follow traditional principles because they feel safer.
Nations that advance rapidly to prosperity, such as Singapore and South Korea, consistently apply seven advanced policy-making principles. Imported food safety management is a typical field that clearly demonstrates the difference between traditional policy-making and modern institutional thinking.
7 Principles of Policy Formulation: Advanced vs. Traditional Examples
Among these seven principles, the first regarding policy mindset is fundamental. It stems from the belief that a good policy is one supported, complied with, and spread voluntarily by the majority of citizens and businesses.
Singapore applies the "90% + 9% + 1% = 100%" method to design and implement policy effectively. In this model, 90% of citizens and businesses will voluntarily comply if the policy is well-designed, clearly communicated, and fairly executed. The remaining 9% may violate rules due to misunderstanding or negligence but will comply if reminded or warned in time. Only the final 1% intentionally violates the rules for calculated benefit; this group alone requires strict monitoring and strong sanctions.
In contrast, the incident with Decree 46 shows that Vietnam still operates under a "management by suspicion" model: applying strict control measures simultaneously to all businesses, regardless of their compliance capacity. Consequently, businesses with excellent records that receive preferential customs clearance in Singapore are treated the same as those with a history of violations. This not only damages businesses and clogs the system but also erodes trust in policy.
This shows that to create synergetic strength from citizens and businesses to realize the 2045 development vision set by the 14th National Congress, Vietnam needs a strong leap in institutional thinking, specifically in internalizing and applying principles like those of Singapore.
The incident related to Decree 46 highlights the urgent requirement for Vietnam to ensure that ministries, sectors, and localities strictly adhere to the international standard 8-step policy-making cycle. This is not just a technical process but an institutional foundation to ensure enforcement effectiveness, create sustainable development impact, consolidate social trust, improve business competitiveness, and build an elite public service.
The standardization and serious implementation of this cycle represent a foundational reform breakthrough, helping Vietnam maximize its national strength and advance toward prosperity.
The 8-Step Policy-Making Cycle includes:
Step 1: Identifying the Policy Problem
This is the decisive starting point for the quality of policy formulation. Policy problems often arise from significant impacts on business operations and citizens' lives, spanning fields such as food safety, trade fraud, transport, taxation, or innovation. At this stage, the drafting agency must answer three fundamental questions: What is the true nature of the problem? Who is being affected and how severe is it? What will be the consequences if there is no intervention? The core goal is to correctly diagnose the "disease" before "prescribing," avoiding the treatment of surface symptoms with instant decisions without understanding the root cause.
Step 2: Data Collection and Evidence Building
After identifying the problem, the drafting agency must systematically collect and analyze data to ensure the policy is built on a scientific evidence base. Key content includes situational statistics, trend analysis, execution capacity assessment, international experience comparison, and legal framework reviews. The application of Big Data, AI, and digital platforms helps improve the accuracy and objectivity of the analysis.
Step 3: Developing Policy Options
Based on the evidence collected, the drafting agency should develop multiple alternative policy options rather than proposing a single choice. According to international practice, there should be, at minimum, a strong option, a moderate option, a flexible option, and a pilot option. Each must be clearly described regarding goals, costs, benefits, and implementation conditions.
Step 4: Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA)
This step aims to systematically measure the economic, social, legal, and environmental impacts of each option before issuance. The assessment focuses on compliance costs, impacts on small businesses, supply chains, the state budget, and execution risks. In many developed countries, a policy without a standard RIA will not be approved.
Step 5: Consulting Affected Stakeholders
Consultation verifies technical analysis through social and business realities. The drafting agency must organize substantive dialogue with businesses, associations, experts, localities, and citizens through flexible forms. The output is a summary report of opinions and formal feedback on which suggestions were accepted or rejected.
Step 6: Finalizing and Making the Policy Decision
Based on the RIA and consultation results, the drafting agency finalizes the selected option, conducts a legal review, and prepares for implementation. This step requires high transparency in accountability and responsibility before society.
Step 7: Implementation and Support
This step focuses on transforming policy from document to actual action. This includes detailed instructions, training, digital support platforms, hotlines, and a reasonable transition period. The result is a system of execution support tools and a rapid feedback mechanism.
Step 8: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Adjustment
The final step ensures that the policy always adapts to reality. Management agencies must collect implementation data, conduct periodic evaluations, survey satisfaction levels, and proactively adjust when necessary.
The 8-step cycle, from problem identification to monitoring and adjustment, forms a closed system ensuring that policy is scientific, feasible, and achieves social consensus. Shortening or skipping any step increases the risk of error, wastes resources, and erodes the trust of businesses and citizens.
Throughout this cycle, policy communication must be considered a strategic cross-cutting component, with a special focus on the consultation, decision-making, and implementation phases, where social trust is either consolidated or diminished.
In the context of implementing the 14th National Congress Resolution with the goal of creating an elite public service to serve national development in the AI era, upgrading the policy formulation and implementation institution is not just a technical requirement but a strategic and vital mission.
Vietnam will advance rapidly and sustainably when every policy is an institutional leap, a powerful, wise, and reliable "development-enabling" tool. In such a future, every policy will help businesses grow instead of forcing them to find ways to cope; every legal document will clearly demonstrate the commitment, responsibility, and strategic thinking capacity of the public apparatus; and every reform will create a new vitality, sparking national pride.