Draft Investment Law (amended): Increasing competitiveness in attracting investment

In the context of the need to mobilize maximum resources from the private sector and increasingly fierce competition to attract international capital flows, the reforms in the Draft Investment Law (amended) recently submitted by the Government to the National Assembly are necessary steps to strengthen investor confidence and increase competitiveness in attracting investment.

Raw material production line for manufacturing solar panels at JA Solar Vietnam Co., Ltd., invested by Hong Kong (China) in Quang Chau Industrial Park ( Bac Giang ). Illustrative photo: Danh Lam/VNA

Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang said that the promulgation of the Investment Law (amended) aims to promptly remove difficulties and obstacles in institutions and laws; reduce and simplify procedures in investment and business, creating favorable conditions for people and businesses.

Along with that, the Investment Law (amended) completes regulations on conditional investment and business sectors and conditions, cuts down on some unnecessary and unreasonable sectors and trades; completes the management decentralization mechanism between central and local agencies on the basis of ensuring the effectiveness and efficiency of state management...

“The amendment will help shorten the time for investment procedures, increase transparency and enhance Vietnam's competitiveness in attracting investment,” said Minister Nguyen Van Thang.

In the draft, the Investment Law (amended) narrows and clarifies the scope of projects that must undergo investment policy approval. Accordingly, investment policy approval is only granted for infrastructure development investment projects in a number of important and sensitive areas such as seaports, airports, telecommunications, publishing, press, etc.; projects that propose to use land and sea areas; projects that have a major impact on the environment, have the potential to seriously impact the environment, or are implemented in areas that affect national defense and security, etc.

In addition, the draft Law clearly stipulates cases where investment policy approval procedures are not carried out; and continues to promote decentralization and delegation of authority to approve investment policies.

Explaining these amendments, the Government said that recently, there have been a number of proposals to abolish the investment policy approval procedure to reduce investment barriers because this procedure has unclear management objectives, is ineffective, unpredictable, and overlaps with many other regulations...

However, there are opinions that if this procedure is removed, it will pose many risks in state management, cause damage to businesses, and affect the investment and business environment... In Conclusion No. 194-KL/TW dated September 20, 2025, the Politburo directed to continue to regulate the procedures for approving investment policies in the direction of narrowing the scope of projects that must be implemented.

Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Cuong, Member of the Prime Minister's Policy Advisory Council, Member of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, said that the draft Law has listed projects that must be approved in principle for investment, the rest are not, so it is clear, encouraging investors to invest money.

“Decentralization and lowering the authority by one level in the decision to approve investment policies is to simplify procedures, because this is the approval of investment policies for projects of investors bringing money, not public investment. However, along with decentralization, there must be a mechanism to control power, and public transparency about the approval process and results to ensure transparency among investors,” said Prof. Dr. Hoang Van Cuong.

In addition, the draft Law expands the green channel mechanism - a special investment procedure stipulated in Article 36a of the 2020 Investment Law. This provision has recently received great support and consensus from investors and management boards of industrial parks and economic zones. The draft Law also amends regulations on investment incentive industries and trades, investment incentive locations, preferential policies, and special investment support; reduces conditional investment and business industries and trades, and many other procedures are adjusted to be simpler, more transparent, and more favorable for investment activities.

Regarding conditional business investment sectors, the Drafting Agency has reviewed and completed the regulations on conditional business investment sectors and business investment conditions, accordingly reviewing and cutting 25 conditional business investment sectors. However, 25 sectors are not enough, it is necessary to continue to consider cutting this list more strongly...

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/du-thao-luat-dau-tu-sua-doi-tang-suc-canh-tranh-trong-thu-hut-dau-tu-20251116132718638.htm