Vietnam

Vietnam Net - E | English | News | Nov. 13, 2025 | UndeterminedDemographics

Vietnam’s draft Population Law currently includes key demographic factors such as population size, structure, and distribution in socioeconomic planning but lacks specific focus on the aging population. Delegate Tran Thi Hien highlighted the importance of integrating aging concerns and elderly needs into national development policies, citing the United Nations Population Fund’s recommendations to leverage opportunities arising from an aging society. She urged Vietnam to adopt the "silver economy" model seen in countries like Japan, South Korea, and China, where goods and services are tailored to older adults. Given Vietnam’s rapidly growing elderly population—growing at over 4% annually from 2019 to 2021 with around 600,000 people turning 60 each year—and a rising aging index, she recommended expanding nursing homes and eldercare services to build infrastructure supporting the elderly, in line with government resolutions.

Challenges to developing eldercare services in Vietnam include high costs limiting access to wealthier individuals, difficulties in securing land, facilities, and trained personnel. Delegate Hien proposed policies to incentivize investments such as priority land access, tax incentives, and support for Vietnamese caregivers returning from abroad to continue their eldercare and nursing careers domestically. These measures aim to address service gaps, improve accessibility, and develop community-based eldercare models, including semi-boarding care systems promoted by political leaders and proven effective in other countries.

On fertility policy, Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga expressed concerns about a proposed extension of maternity leave by one month for second-time mothers, cautioning that it might unintentionally increase gender discrimination in hiring and promotion by raising employer costs and creating workforce disruptions. She recommended a more flexible shared parental leave policy, allowing parents to jointly decide how to divide up to 7-8 months of leave. This approach, she argued, supports newborn care while encouraging shared parenting responsibilities and reducing the burden on women during postpartum recovery, aligning with modern workforce dynamics where many women prioritize career advancement.

Bộ KH&ampCN sẽ xây dựng thêm 17 tiêu chuẩn mới về Halal

Bao Dien Tu | Local Language | News | Nov. 13, 2025 | UndeterminedTech Development/Adoption

The Ministry of Science and Technology in Vietnam is set to develop 17 new Halal standards to strengthen the country’s Halal sector through 2030. Current efforts focus on building a unified and transparent state management system aligned with international norms, with three main pillars: completing the standards system, enhancing certification capacities, and improving state management effectiveness. To date, Vietnam has issued six national Halal standards, with the plan to add 17 more, including three general standards and 14 focused on Halal food, aiming to harmonize with international bodies like the OIC and SMIIC.

Vietnam has granted Halal certification registration to three organizations that have certified over 1,000 businesses, showing strong domestic demand. Nevertheless, challenges remain, especially in achieving international recognition due to varied certification systems and regulations like Malaysia’s requirement for Muslim-owned certification bodies, which limit Vietnamese participation.

To address these challenges, the Ministry is actively promoting international cooperation, signing agreements with Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, and working with global organizations such as GAC, SMIIC, and the Turkish Halal Authority. Additionally, the Ministry is drafting a Decree on quality management and development policies for Halal products and services, focusing on unifying quality control, supporting industry development, trade promotion, and clarifying state agency roles. The prompt issuance of this Decree, combined with ongoing international collaboration, aims to remove barriers and expand Vietnam’s access to the global Halal market.

Bộ trưởng Tài chính: Sẽ rà soát để giảm thêm giấy phép kinh doanh

VN Express | Local Language | News | Nov. 13, 2025 | Regulation

Finance Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng announced on November 11 that the Government plans to reduce the number of conditional business sectors from 25 sectors, which currently require business licenses, to fewer sectors to promote ease of market entry and business freedom. The Ministry of Finance will continue to review and propose further reductions in these conditional business licenses.

Professor Hoàng Văn Cường suggested dividing conditional business sectors into two categories: sectors requiring ex-ante control like security and public health, which need permits, and sectors that should be under ex-post supervision without licensing. He cautioned against removing the business conditions for accounting and tax declaration services, stressing the need for control to prevent tax evasion, especially with the shift to declaration-based taxation from 2026.

The draft law proposes decentralizing authority by transferring the power to approve investment project policies from the provincial People's Committee to the Provincial Chairman. While this move aligns with decentralization and aims to enhance efficiency, both Mr. Trần Việt Anh and Professor Cường emphasized the need for transparency and mechanisms to prevent power abuse.

Regarding overseas investment, the Government plans to simplify approval procedures for projects under 20 billion VND (approximately 760,000 USD), requiring only foreign exchange transaction registration. Larger projects or those in conditional sectors will still need investment registration certificates. Mr. Việt Anh recommended maintaining existing approval processes to safeguard national economic interests and security.

The amended Investment Law will be discussed in the National Assembly on November 27 and voted on December 11, 2025.