Savings of over 5 trillion VND thanks to administrative procedure reforms.
On June 18th, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment organized a dialogue forum on administrative procedures and business conditions in the fields of agriculture and environment in 2026.
Speaking at the Forum, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Environment Nguyen Hoang Hiep said that administrative procedure reform and reduction of investment and business conditions are important requirements to unlock resources, reduce social costs, and create a transparent and favorable investment and business environment for people and businesses.
For the agriculture and environment sector, this task is particularly significant given its broad scope of management, directly involving many essential areas such as land, resources, environment, fisheries, forestry, livestock, veterinary medicine, crop cultivation, and plant protection.
Following the directives of the Central Government and the Government , the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has focused on reviewing, reducing, and simplifying administrative procedures, while simultaneously promoting decentralization and delegation of power to localities. The Ministry is one of three ministries commended by the Government for achieving and exceeding assigned targets; it has also been tasked with developing separate resolutions on reducing, decentralizing, and simplifying administrative procedures.
According to Ms. Tran Thi Nga, a senior specialist in the Legal Department (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment), the implementation of Resolution No. 17/2026/NQ-CP, Resolution No. 66.19/2026/NQ-CP, and Circular No. 22/2026/TT-BNNMT has yielded many positive results in reforming administrative procedures, business investment conditions, and decentralizing state management.
Compared to 2024, the Ministry has reduced administrative procedure processing time by nearly 9,000 days, equivalent to 53.39%; saving VND 5,310 billion in compliance costs, equivalent to 54.73%. The number of administrative procedures has decreased from 650 to 555. During the 2025-2026 period, the Ministry abolished 108 administrative procedures, simplified 88 procedures, and implemented decentralization and delegation of authority for 58 procedures.
The decentralization and delegation of authority have been intensified, helping to reduce the number of procedures under the Ministry's jurisdiction from 267 to 148; accounting for only 26.67% of the total number of administrative procedures.
Regarding investment and business conditions, the Ministry has abolished 13 out of 40 conditional business sectors and narrowed the scope for 3 others, achieving a reduction rate of 36.25%, exceeding the Government's minimum requirement of 30%. Compared to the initial proposal, the Ministry has decentralized 58 out of 61 planned procedures and abolished 86 procedures, higher than the proposed 83 procedures.
The reduction, simplification, and decentralization of administrative procedures are carried out according to the principle of maximizing convenience for citizens and businesses. This promotes innovation, enhances efficiency, and ensures transparency. The reform process is also linked to strengthening post-inspection, auditing, supervision, and handling of violations.
Continue to remove obstacles and improve the business environment.
At the Forum, representatives from the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) highly appreciated the reform efforts of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment in reducing and simplifying administrative procedures, amending regulations on investment and business conditions, and implementing Government resolutions to facilitate businesses. However, there is still much room for further, more substantive reforms.
The Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) believes that continuing to review and resolve the aforementioned obstacles will contribute to improving the efficiency of administrative procedure reform, reducing compliance costs; and at the same time create a more transparent, stable, and favorable investment and business environment for enterprises in the agricultural and environmental sectors.
In the fields of livestock farming, veterinary medicine, and animal feed, the Chairman of the Vietnam Poultry Association, Nguyen Thanh Son, believes that there is still a lack of uniformity in the understanding and implementation of regulations on inspecting animal feed ingredients and veterinary drugs among localities.
Therefore, Mr. Son suggested abolishing or simplifying the inspection of imported raw materials, shortening the processing time for veterinary drug and animal feed registration applications; improving product labeling regulations, applying a one-stop mechanism, and reducing paper documents.
Simultaneously, shift from a "permitted list" to a "prohibited list" management system; eliminate or simplify testing for internationally recognized additives; consider abolishing the procedure for renewing veterinary drug marketing authorization; reduce overlapping regulations in production evaluation; and allow recognition of international test results to reduce costs and time for businesses.
One of the issues of concern to businesses is the environmental permit issuance process. Ms. Le Thi Hong Nhi, Deputy General Director of Communications, External Relations and Sustainable Development at Unilever Vietnam, believes that the process needs to be simplified, the processing time for environmental procedures shortened; and a preferential mechanism should be applied to businesses with a good compliance history or using environmentally friendly technologies to promote green investment.
In addition, it is necessary to review the overlap between environmental impact assessment reports and environmental permits to reduce costs, paperwork, and ensure consistent implementation across localities. Regarding the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) mechanism, it needs to be developed according to a suitable roadmap, ensuring feasibility, transparency, and long-term stability.
Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep emphasized that reforms should not stop at numbers but need to continue to be substantive, measured by the level of convenience and satisfaction of people and businesses, and the effectiveness of state management.
Based on feedback from businesses, the Ministry will review the entire process of receiving, processing, and responding to suggestions. At the same time, specialized units are required to continue evaluating and reviewing regulations that are still inadequate, and to boldly propose amendments or abolitions. Procedures, licenses, or business conditions that have been repeatedly criticized by businesses for years but still cause difficulties need to be seriously considered, with the aim of retaining only truly necessary regulations and boldly eliminating those that are no longer relevant to current practices.
Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/day-manh-cai-cach-thuc-chat-go-nut-that-the-che-10421060.html
