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Discussions on the economy and society at the National Assembly on April 20 conveyed a common message: growth cannot be achieved by policy alone if institutions and implementation still have gaps, and if social welfare is not guaranteed. Delegates said policies are needed across society, from street vendors to enterprises.
Representative Chau Quynh Dao (An Giang) focused on the interests of roaming lottery ticket sellers and freelance workers at the final link in the state lottery distribution chain. She said this sector contributes about 52 trillion dong to the southern region’s budget each year.
Ms. Dao noted that roaming lottery sellers are mainly elderly people, widows, women and children in difficult circumstances, as well as persons with disabilities and migrant workers. She said many of them do not have labor contracts, social insurance, or health insurance.
With a commission of about 1,000 dong per ticket, selling 200 tickets per day yields about 200,000 dong, which she said is insufficient to cover living costs. She also highlighted risks including traffic accidents, weather impacts, unsold tickets, and counterfeit tickets.
Ms. Dao proposed recognizing roaming lottery ticket sellers as a special form of freelance labor to secure a clear legal status and to review profit distribution across the entire lottery value chain.
On the macroeconomic side, Representative Pham Trong Nhan (Ho Chi Minh City) pointed to a paradox: the private sector contributes about 51% of GDP, more than 30% of the state budget, creates jobs for over 82% of the labor force, and accounts for nearly 60% of total social investment. However, he said the private sector accounts for only about 30% of export turnover, with the remainder coming from foreign direct investment (FDI).
He added that although GDP growth in 2025 reached 8.02%, the private sector still mainly operates in low-value segments, the domestic market, or outsourcing.
“Could it be that a sector identified as the economy’s most important driver is still operating under an institutional framework that is not commensurate?” Mr. Nhan asked.
Citing laws, party resolutions, National Assembly resolutions, government policies, and the reality that “only about 30% of enterprises have access to formal credit,” he said: “What enterprises need is not support, but a solid, stable, and enforceable legal framework.”
Mr. Nhan proposed that the National Assembly include in its legislative program a framework law titled the Law to Ensure the Right to Develop Private Economy, with concrete pillars. He said the National Assembly should ensure development rights through law rather than only through resolutions.
Representative Hoang Minh Hieu (Nghe An) said administrative procedure reform is another key area. He noted that the government has approved a plan to cut and simplify about 63% of administrative procedures related to production and business, aiming to shorten processing time by 32% and reduce compliance costs by 40%. However, he said these figures do not fully reflect reality.
Using data from PCI reports, Mr. Hieu said nearly 24% of enterprises still spend more than 10% of working time learning and implementing administrative regulations. He also said many provincial public service portals still have interface problems, require multiple information entries, and continue to operate with both paper and electronic documents.
He further said inter-ministry procedures in land, investment, planning, and finance remain structurally bottlenecked, causing some projects to take many years even to complete initial procedures.
Mr. Hieu called for a shift from “simplification” to “substantive reduction,” including abolishing outdated procedures and converting procedures that can replace pre-audit with post-audit. He also warned against reducing paperwork while maintaining a “please-please” mindset.
He proposed building a substantive performance index based on actual processing times, the number of times people must travel, the on-time rate of file resolution, and user satisfaction—rather than focusing only on the number of procedures cut.
Mr. Hieu also requested shortening the timeline for completing national databases. He said many laws assume interconnected databases, but completion timelines are set for 2029, 2030, or “when conditions permit,” which he said is too slow compared with development needs.
Representative Ha Sy Huan (Thai Nguyen) raised concerns about commune-level civil servants. After administrative consolidation, he said some mountainous communes have been merged from two to three units, resulting in party committee, People’s Council, and People’s Committee offices being located at two or three sites more than 10 kilometers apart.
He proposed that the government adopt a special mechanism for mountain communes to build suitable offices, instead of rigidly applying regulations that limit new construction.
On compensation, Mr. Huan said commune-level civil servants handle multiple fields and duties, but salary allowances for their posts are only half of those for the same title at the provincial level. He called for assessment of overall pay and allowances for this workforce and for prompt implementation of coherent solutions so they can work with peace of mind.
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