Proposal to pay monthly support up to 300% of salary to officials handling international investment disputes

Under the draft resolution, individuals directly involved in handling international investment dispute cases at the Legal Representation Agency and the lead agency would receive monthly support not exceeding 300% of their current salary, based on their salary coefficient (excluding allowances).

Continuing the program during the First Session on the morning of 15 April, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly issued opinions on explaining, absorbing, and revising the draft resolution on the mechanism of coordination and special policies to enhance the effectiveness of preventing and resolving international investment disputes.

Scope and applicable subjects

Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu said the draft resolution’s scope and applicable subjects are limited to the prevention and resolution of international investment disputes.

He also noted that the resolution includes provisions that can be applied more generally to protect the legitimate interests of the State, Government, and Vietnamese state agencies, as reflected in Clause 2 Article 20 of the draft resolution.

Special policy regime for workers

Regarding the policy regime for people working on prevention and resolution of international investment disputes under Article 18, the deputy minister referred to the reasonableness of the special policies.

The government’s proposed levels are based on those already defined in current resolutions, including Resolution No. 179/2025/QH15 on building law and Resolution 250/2025/QH15. The approach is also based on identifying those directly involved in prevention and resolution of international investment disputes as experts with high qualifications participating in international integration work.

Because workloads differ across agencies, the draft resolution divides the policy into groups for different subject groups to ensure rationality and feasibility.

In response to MPs’ opinions, the drafting and reviewing agencies agreed to revise Article 18 to ensure the ability to attract, retain, and motivate those who regularly work in this field.

Accordingly, those directly participating in resolving international investment disputes at the Legal Representation Agency and the lead agency would receive monthly support not exceeding 300% of the salary coefficient for the period of direct involvement in resolving such disputes.

Center for Prevention and Resolution of International Investment Disputes

On the Center for Prevention and Resolution of International Investment Disputes (Paragraph 4 of Article 19), Deputy Minister Nguyen Thanh Tu emphasized that reducing reliance on foreign lawyers requires a strong center to attract and train a workforce capable of directly litigating before international tribunals, in line with Directive 33-CT/TW (2024) of the Party’s Secretariat.

The resolution assigns the Government to regulate the establishment and operation of the Center. In addition, following MPs’ input, Paragraph 4 of Article 19 was revised to state that the Government shall regulate the mechanism and policies for workers and the Center’s operations, but not exceed the special mechanisms and policies already set out by law or by a National Assembly resolution.

Next steps in the legislative process

To ensure progress according to the second-phase schedule, the First Session of the National Assembly will consider and pass this draft resolution. The Government was urged to direct the drafting office and relevant authorities to study, absorb, and finalize the draft resolution.