Decision 531/QD-TTg 2021 approving the general strategy for development of service sector in the 2021-2030 period

DECISION

Approving the general strategy for development of Vietnam’s service sector in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050^[1]

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the June 19, 2015 Law on Organization of the Government; and the November 22, 2019 Law Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration;

Pursuant to the Government’s Resolution No. 140/NQ-CP of November 9, 2018, on its October 2018 regular meeting;

At the proposal of the Minister of Planning and Investment,

DECIDES:

Article 1. To approve the general strategy for development of Vietnam’s service sector in the 2021-2030 period, with a vision toward 2050 (below referred to as the Strategy), with the following principal contents:

A. VIEWPOINTS AND OBJECTIVES

I. DEVELOPMENT VIEWPOINTS

- To develop the service sector in a fast, effective and sustainable manner, ensuring that the basic services with increased quality serve the national socio-economic development directed toward the formation of a modern economic structure.

- To develop various services suitable to each period of national economic development and international integration; to mobilize all resources of different economic sectors, particularly the private economy.

- To develop the service sector on the basis of effectively promoting the potentials, advantages, innovation and creativity, effectively applying scientific and technological achievements in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in order to advance quickly and catch up with other countries around the world. To prioritize and focus on the development of a number of services with advantages and a high knowledge and technological content.

- To develop and internationally integrate the service sector along with ensuring an independent and sovereign economy and social safety as well as national security; to open the markets of different services in association with effectively protecting domestic industries; to bring into play domestic resources, considering them the basis for the service sector’s active, proactive and effective integration.

- To develop the service sector with independent capacity and flexible adaptability against negative impacts of global major economic crises, natural disasters and pandemics.

II. DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

1. General objectives

To develop the service sector into a key sector with high quality, efficiency and competitiveness accounting for a major proportion in the economy, on par with that of the ASEAN-4 countries, and in conformity with international standards and practices.

2. Specific objectives

The service sector’s growth rate in the 2021-2030 period will be 7%- 8%, higher than the national economic growth rate. By 2030, the proportion of the service sector will represent about 50% of the GDP.

In the 2030-2050 period, the service sector will sustain a growth rate higher than the national economic growth rate, accounting for about 60% of the GDP.

B. ORIENTATIONS FOR MATERIALIZATION OF THE STRATEGY

I. GENERAL ORIENTATIONS

- To step up the institutional reform, heightening the transparency, efficiency and competitiveness of services in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Vietnam’s more extensive and intensive international integration.

- To step up the restructuring of services on the basis of modern technologies, application of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s achievements, particularly the services in the fields of finance, banking, insurance, health, education, transport, logistics, commerce, tourism, etc. To maintain the service sector’s growth rate higher than the GDP growth rate; to gradually increase the service proportion in the GDP.

- To concentrate on developing a number of services and products with a high knowledge and technological content and competitive edge such as distribution, tourism, information technology, finance-banking, logistics, education and training, health, etc. At the same time, to form a number of tourist service centers with high-quality and branded products which are deeply imbued with national cultural identities and highly competitive in the region and the world.

- To raise the quality of service products and the competitiveness of service enterprises on domestic, regional and international markets. To intensify the exploitation of potentials and advantages of each service, enhancing cooperation among services for joint competition and development.

- To step up socialization for development of cultural, educational, medical, physical training and sports, employment and other services under the market mechanism, meeting the domestic demand and incrementally integrating in the international market.

- To continue mobilizing investment capital from various economic sectors at home and abroad for upgrading and construction of infrastructure and procurement of modern technical equipment in order to facilitate the development of services. State budget funds should be prioritized for the development, consolidation, upgrading and modernization of critical infrastructure in the fields of transport, airports, seaports, telecommunications, tourism, finance and banking.

- To open the service market under international commitments, increasing the mobilization and promotion of foreign investment in the service sector.

- To survey and assess the competitiveness of each current and future service; to classify services to be protected, services to be temporarily or definitely done away with for door opening and give national treatment and most-favored nation status to foreign service providers.

- To step up the development of services toward harmony between regions and zones, modernity, fast and sustainable growth in association with heightening the prestige and quality of service products of Vietnam.

II. ORIENTATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SERVICES

1. Orientations for development of priority services

a/ Tourist service

- To improve tourist development institutions and policies and heighten the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of tourism.

- To quickly develop modern and synchronous infrastructure in service of tourism development, including transport and information technology infrastructure in key tourist development zones, national tourist zones and areas with tourist potentials.

- To diversely develop tourists’ markets, based on surveys and studies of tourists’ markets, demands and tastes. To focus on attracting tourists from the markets of Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, North America, Western Europe, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and Russian Federation. To pay attention to the development of new markets with potentials such as  Middle East, Southern Europe, South America and South Asia; at the same time, to attach importance to the development of domestic tourists’ markets, particularly in the initial years of the 2021-2030 period of the Strategy, especially in the context of negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism.

- To develop quality, diverse and distinctive tourist products of high added value and offering more experiences for tourists, based on the advantages of natural resources of each region and each locality, meeting the market demand and raising the competitiveness of Vietnam’s tourism.

-  To boost digital transformation in the tourism industry; to develop smart tourism; to promote, advertise and build up brands; to manage tourists and tourist activities and resources; to control, supervise and warn environmental pollution, manage and minimize risks and environmental incidents in tourist activities, based on the application of modern science and technology and digital platforms.

- To develop human resources for tourism with a rational occupation structure, meeting both quantity and quality requirements and competition and integration demands.

- To establish an effective tourism statistics system.

b/ Logistics and transport services

- To enhance the role of state management toward actively removing difficulties and hurdles and creating a healthy competition environment for all economic sectors to participate in the transport market.

- To develop the transport market in association with raising the operation capacity, production and business efficiency and competitiveness of Vietnamese enterprises under the market mechanism, thus meeting the requirements of economic development, higher competitiveness and international cooperation. To proactively tap the opportunities and limit the undesirable impacts brought about by the Fourth Industrial Revolution in order to develop transport and multi-modal transport services satisfying demands of the economy and people.

- To efficiently use, and invest in the development of, transport infrastructure and encourage enterprises to raise the logistics service capacity and quality. To establish a network of multiple-tier distribution centers (dry depots, warehouses, storing yards) and cargo collection and transport routes in major cities and key economic regions.

- To attach importance to the development of high-quality human resources for transport and logistics services, meeting domestic and international demands.

c/ Information and communications technology services

- To develop information and communications technology services on the basis of effectively promoting potentials, advantages and innovations and applying scientific and technological achievements in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in order to quickly advance and catch up with other countries in the world.

- To sustainably develop the information and communications technology market, restructuring the service sector to new pillars (electronics, digital content services, cyber security, e-commerce, delivery, etc), new objects (smart cities, digital government, digital citizens) and new spaces (in the region and the world).

- To develop the information and communications technology service with spillover effects on other services such as trade, tourism, transport, finance, banking, etc.,  in order to create new spaces for promoting the general development of these services.

- To develop connection infrastructure as a basis for development of information and communications technology service. To quickly develop mobile internet service of 5G and subsequent generations; to encourage enterprises to expand high-speed broadband internet connections to all communes nationwide; to build internet highways for multi-user services, for example public administrative service, healthcare service, education service and others. To attract investment in and establish a number of international information technology service centers in the major cities of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, etc.

- To maintain Vietnam’s competitiveness and position among the group of top 10 countries in the provision of software processing and digital content services; to be fully capable of developing and producing information and communications technology products and services, satisfying the domestic and international market demands, laying a foundation for the development of knowledge-based economy, helping master information systems, ensure information safety and national digital sovereignty, making the fullest use of the advantages while minimizing the negative impacts of the Fourth Industrial Revolution on Vietnam.

- To step up the online provision of public services related to production and business activities, intensifying the application of information technology in public administrative procedures.

d/ Finance-banking services

- To raise the quality of, and diversify finance-banking service products toward renewing processes and procedures and intensifying the application of information technology. To develop harmoniously market components so that the finance-banking sector continues to be an effective channel for capital raising and distribution for the economy. To attach importance to increasing the scale, quality and competitiveness of intermediary institutions, creating the connection between the securities and insurance market and the monetary-credit market for the balanced development of components of the financial market.

- To develop finance-banking services in association with integration into the financial market. To liberalize financial services and sub-services. To develop the securities market and insurance market to approach international standards and practices and suit practical conditions.

- To develop finance-banking services in association with the Fourth Industrial Revolution, gradually shifting from the traditional business mode to the digital business mode, providing products and services on digital platforms in order to satisfy increasing demands of customers. The development of finance-banking services should be based on automation technology, multi-dimensional connection and smartization of modern technologies. To attach importance to the development of e-payment to serve e-commerce toward improvement of and better connection between e-payment infrastructure of the banking system and the payment infrastructure of other units.

- To develop channels providing capital for the market; to expand the system of investors, especially major institutions; to adequately develop intermediary institutions; to diversify services to be provided. To vigorously transform the business model of commercial banks from “credit monoculture” to diversification of non-credit banking services.

2. Orientations for development of other services

a/ Science and technology services

- With regard to the field of standards, measurement and quality:

+ To make application of standards and technical regulations a requirement of production and business activities; an important tool and means for upholding standards in economic-trade relations.

+ To develop conformity assessment and measurement inspection, calibration and testing services in order to create quantitative and qualitative improvements in these services. To complete technical barriers to trade to serve export and curb trade deficit. To apply the quality control system under international standards, primarily focusing on major and leading service enterprises of the economy.

-  Regarding the field of scientific and technological information and statistics:

+ To strongly develop the services of providing, synthesizing and processing scientific and technological information and statistics with quality, meeting the demands of leadership, management, forecast and formulation of strategies and policies on production and business development.

+ To develop a digital Vietnamese knowledge system in order to establish big data and platforms and data sharing to serve the national digital transformation process, approaching the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

- To develop a network of intermediary organizations of the science and technology market; to develop national scientific and technological information and statistics infrastructure toward modernization and diversification.

- To encourage the development of services related to intellectual property, protection of intellectual property assets, etc.

b/ Distribution services

- For traditional distribution services:

+ To develop distribution into a competitive industry of Vietnam. To synchronously develop the wholesale and retail distribution systems.

+ To enhance the connection between production and distribution enterprises, associations and management agencies to vigorously develop domestic and overseas markets.

+ To renew management contents and modes suitable to different types of traditional trade, especially marketplaces.

+ To enhance the effectiveness of state management of distribution and retail activities, especially activities of setting up retail stores and developing domestic retail chains of foreign-invested enterprises in order to ensure the healthy and equitable development and competition among economic sectors participating in the distribution market, while strictly implementing Vietnam’s international commitments on distribution services.

+ To raise the quality of human resources working in the distribution and retail sector in order to boost the operational efficiency of business subjects.

- Regarding e-commerce services:

+ To further formulate and complete institutions, mechanisms and policies for the development and application of digital economy. To improve the legal framework for e-commerce with a system of legal documents comprehensively regulating and catching up with the practical development of e-commerce and e-business models and activities.

+ To develop digital technology solutions and products and assist enterprises in their application in each stage of the business cycle; integrated services based on advanced technologies such as smart card technology, blockchain technology, identification technology, and bar codes.

c/ Healthcare services

- To improve the master plan on development of the healthcare system, and continue renewing the healthcare system toward streamlining and international integration.

- To diversify forms of medical examination and treatment; to develop the medical examination and treatment tourist service, a number of high-quality and spearhead medicine areas suitable to Vietnam’s conditions and capacity; to form high-quality medical examination and treatment establishments meeting people’s demands and attracting foreigners.

- To step up and encourage the development of private healthcare, without discrimination between public healthcare and private healthcare; to increase hospital beds of the private sector; to increase standard testing and verification services provided by the private sector.

- To enhance the accessibility to and raise the quality of healthcare services. To improve the medical examination and treatment service quality control system at different levels and the people’s feedback system; to issue professional processes. To implement health management for each person so that everyone will have access to medical monitoring, counseling and check at least once a year.

d/ Business support services

- To increase the proportion of business support services in the service sector. To raise the quality of various business support and enterprise support services, particularly those frequently used by Vietnamese enterprises such as management consultancy, accounting-auditing services and new services such as manpower administration, collection and billing, etc.

- To encourage enterprises, particularly startups, small and medium enterprises, to use business support services.

- To attach importance to the provision of business support services for not only urban centers but also rural, midland and mountainous areas, particularly essential services such as trade and financial services, and provision of agricultural supplies and techniques, etc.

- To develop the system of business support enterprises along the line of socialization and marketization, meeting the development and integration demands of Vietnamese enterprises.

- To step up the provision of level-4 online public services according to the objectives set forth in the national strategy on the Fourth Industrial Revolution toward 2030.

dd/ Education and training services

- To raise the quality of education services, particularly graduate and postgraduate education services, in order to develop high-quality human resources, satisfying the requirements of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and international integration; to attach importance to the training of human resources for technical areas, technology administration, corporate governance, and society management, people’s life and care organization. To renew the contents of training programs, uphold the autonomy of higher education institutions, aiming to ensure education and training quality, helping students be able to work in domestic, regional and international markets.

- To step up the application of information technology in management and vocational teaching and learning activities; to upgrade data integration centers; systems in support of teaching and learning activities in vocational education; information systems and databases in vocational skills accreditation activities.

- To develop the pool of teachers and education administrators; to develop the scale and network of education and training institutions in association with quality assurance conditions, while enhancing educational quality in conformity with the objectives of renewal of general education programs and textbooks and with the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

- To improve the institutions, renew the system management and school administration; to intensify investment in physical foundations toward synchronization, standardization, incremental modernization, building an open education system toward a learning society.

III. TERRITORY-BASED DEVELOPMENT ORIENTATIONS

1. Delta regions

To actively apply science and technology, vigorously develop various services, particularly groups of priority services and production and business support services, and medical, healthcare and social security services. To reform institutions, upgrade infrastructure and raise the quality of human resources for the service sector. To heighten the competitiveness and quality of services according to international standards and practices; to form large trade, tourist, financial and logistics service centers of regional and international magnitude in major cities like Hanoi, Haiphong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh, Can Tho, etc. To intensify the connection of major service centers and service centers along regional economic corridors, namely new international roads and sea routes (from China’s Zhongqing city to Singapore; the East-West economic corridor, southern economic corridor, etc.).

2. Midland and mountainous regions

To develop eco-tourism and cultural tourism in order to bring into play the values of natural resources, historical relics, and cultural distinctiveness of ethnic minorities in the regions. To develop resort tourism in localities with appropriate climate conditions. To attach importance to infrastructure development, tapping the advantages of border-gate economy for the development of distribution and tourist services. To apply preferential treatment mechanisms and policies, link service development with economic development and new-countryside building, ensuring social security for poor regions, ethnic minority regions, and former revolution base zones. To attach importance to the development of agro-forestry services and essential services for local people.

3. Sea, coastal and island regions

To develop various services, particularly those with geographical potentials and advantages and high added value such as tourism, ocean shipping, logistics, petroleum exploitation-related and fishing logistics services. To develop infrastructure and apply high technologies to investment in the construction, management and operation of seaports, seaport-connecting road system, and high-quality sea tourist resorts of national and regional magnitude. To form major logistics centers in Haiphong, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau and Can Tho. To associate the development of services in sea, coastal and island regions with the firm protection of national security, sovereignty and territorial and territorial-sea integrity. To strongly develop fishing services and develop service infrastructure for islands, particularly those with critical socio-economic, security and defense positions.

IV. SOLUTIONS TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF SERVICES

1. Solutions to the development of priority services

a/ Tourist services

- To complete institutions, mechanisms and policies on tourism and related to tourism, creating a favorable legal environment for tourism development. To further improve policies to facilitate the entry, exit and travel of international tourists.

- To develop tourist products:

+ To develop the system of quality, unique, diverse and synchronous tourist products of high added value, satisfying the demands of domestic and international tourists; to develop “green” tourist products, respecting local natural and cultural elements.

+ To plan and invest in the development of tourist products based on the prominent and attractive advantages of tourist resources; to concentrate on and prioritize the development of sea and island tourism, cultural tourism, community-based tourism and eco-tourism products.

- To develop the system of infrastructure and physical-technical foundations for tourism, ensuring quality, modernity, convenience and synchrony to satisfy tourists’ demands, including systems of tourist resorts and sites, tourist accommodation establishments, restaurants, information service booths, tourism advice, booking, travel agency and tour guide offices; tourist transportation service establishments and vehicles, sightseeing, resort, entertainment, recreation, sports and conference service establishments and service establishments for other purposes.

- To train human resources for tourism, ensuring both quality and quantity, with a balanced structure of occupations and training degrees meeting the requirements of tourism development and international integration.

- To develop markets and promote tourist advertisements and tourist brands:

+ To selectively attract market segments of higher spending and longer staying tourists. To strongly develop domestic tourist markets, attaching importance to the markets of resort, entertainment, recreation, weekend vacation and shopping tourists.

+ To step up tourism promotion and advertising toward professionalism, aiming at target markets, regarding tourist products and brands as the focus; to advertise tourism in association with promoting the national image.

+ To build the national tourism brand on the basis of developing regional and local tourism brands, tourist enterprise brands and tourist product brands.

- To step up international cooperation on tourism with other countries and international organizations, linking the Vietnamese tourism market with tourism markets in the region and the world.

- To step up the application of information technology in tour booking, hotel room booking, payment via applications, e-wallets, etc., and complete the tourism statistics system.

b/ Logistics and transport services

- To further complete policies and laws on logistics and transport services. Accordingly, to amend a number of regulations and supplement others on logistics and transport services in the Commercial Law, creating a favorable legal basis for logistics activities. To amend and promulgate policies and laws regulating logistics, multi-modal transportation, and cross-border transportation services. To cover all logistics services and legislate international commitments on logistics.

- To reduce logistics costs through handling the limitations of supply chains such as capacity of seaports, dry depots, inland waterway ports, warehouses and storing yards and entrepots; to plan multi-modal transportation, boosting the fast development of low-cost cargo transportation modes.

- To train human resources for the logistics and maritime transportation sectors, quickly meeting their labor demands on the one hand, and speeding up the program of training logistics experts with skills of applying and practicing logistics and supply chains management, catching up with developed countries.

- To restructure logistics, including promoting the development of various logistics forms (3PLs, 4PLs, 5PLs) in the country, considering this a prerequisite for development of Vietnam’s logistics market.

- To connect information technology in logistics, especially in customs procedures and at border gates (to intensify the organization and promotion of standardization in operation such as documents, technological standards, etc., developing the portals of logistics, EDI, e-logistics, etc.

- To diversely develop distribution centers in major cities and urban centers nationwide to serve retail markets and logistics centers near export production and processing industrial parks.

- To plan a synchronous system of seaports, dry depots, airports, railways and roads. To promote private, enterprise and public-private partnership (PPP) investment.

- To widely apply the supply chain administration and logistic administration in enterprises of all economic sectors, encouraging logistics outsourcing; to amend and supplement laws and policies to facilitate the development of logistics services as well as logistics enterprises in the country; to apply EDI and paperless transaction systems at customs stations and border-gate checkpoints, carrying out administrative reforms and transparentizing public services, etc.

c/ Information and communications technology services

- To build an information and communications technology infrastructure system ensuring synchrony and information security, specifically as follows:

+ To proceed with the formation of 5G mobile information infrastructure for the development of the digital economy and digital society; to incrementally master such platform technologies as IoT, Big Data, AI and AR technologies.

+ To intensify the shared use of information and communications technology infrastructure, avoiding the waste of development resources of the society; to develop digital infrastructure on the basis of synchronous and modern information technology and national database systems, ensuring safe technical infrastructure and information security.

- To carry out national digital transformation, taking advantage of all opportunities, raising awareness and making investment in new services:

+ To implement comprehensive national digital transformation from the Government to the society and enterprises in order to develop the digital economy and build the digital society.

+ To build and develop e-government and smart city services.

- To build and develop Vietnamese digital technology enterprises:

+ To develop digital technology enterprises as a key force for the development of information and communications services, well performing the leading role in technology infrastructure, serving as the foundation of the digital economy and digital society in the context of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

+ To encourage technology enterprises to research and develop technological applications, and encourage trade and service enterprises to intensify the use of technology, software and technological products; to thoroughly grasp the motto “Innovation in Vietnam, design in Vietnam, Vietnam masters technologies and is proactive in production”.

+ To develop a number of priority, hi-tech industries: information and telecommunications technology, electronics, etc., for manufacturing of software and digital products, and for information security industry.

+ To support technological startups, innovative enterprises in providing technological consultancy and technology transfer, and applying new technologies and new business models as breakthroughs in all socio-economic fields.

d/ Finance-banking services

- To improve the monetary-banking legal framework based on the full compliance with the laws of a market economy, conformity with international practices and satisfaction of integration requirements.

- To renew the framework of monetary policies and policies on foreign exchange and gold management:

+ To implement the monetary policy toward achieving the ultimate goal of controlling inflation, stabilizing the currency value, contributing to the maintenance of macro-economic stability, creating conditions for more effective capital mobilization and allocation in the economy, and boosting the sustainable economic growth.

+ To sustainably develop the gold market, aiming to achieve the objective of sustainably developing this market, limiting the use of gold instead of domestic currency, supporting the implementation of the monetary policy and macro-monetary stability.

- To develop the system of credit institutions fully capable of competing on the domestic market, incrementally raising their international competitiveness.

- To intensify scientific and technological application and development, and develop human resources for the finance-banking sector; to lay stress on the capability to approach the Fourth Industrial Revolution’s applications according to the orientations for renewal of the operation of the finance-banking sector; to intensify the research into applied sciences; to train high-quality human resources meeting development requirements of the finance-banking sector.

- Insurance: To complete the system of insurance business laws; to heighten the system safety, operation efficiency and competitiveness of insurance enterprises; to support enterprises in developing and diversifying insurance products; to diversify and professionalize insurance distribution channels; to enhance the effect of state management of insurance business; to step up international cooperation and integration in the field of insurance.

- Securities: To complete the institutions, mechanisms and policies for synchronous development of the finance-monetary market in general and the securities market in particular; to quickly develop the market scale and quality; to complete the organizational structure of the securities market, ensuring technical infrastructure for the stable, secure and sustainable development of the market; to raise the effectiveness of management, examination, supervision and law enforcement, ensuring publicity and transparency, protecting the lawful rights and interests of market players; to renew the information technology system for transactions, payment and supervision; to proactively integrate in regional and international financial, monetary and securities markets, approaching the best practices and standards.

2. Solutions to the development of other services

a/ Science and technology services

- To formulate mechanisms and policies aiming to encourage startup enterprises and individuals in the technological field; to propose larger financial funds with a view to supporting enterprises to invest in technology renewal.

- To review, amend and supplement national standards and technical regulations as well as the conformity assessment process; to establish and operate a standard database system for best productivity reference and practice for enterprises.

- To promote technology transfer from advanced countries in the world to domestic enterprises, giving priority to hi-tech projects, which are environment-friendly, have potential spillover effects, and are connected with domestic enterprises for participation in global value chains.

- To step up research to master and transfer technologies in the fields of information technology, production of products of Vietnamese brands such as software and digital content; designing and manufacturing integrated circuits, high-capacity memories; multi-media technologies; multi-access technologies; artificial intelligence; cyber security technologies; developing high-performance computing hubs.

- To encourage the private sector to build scientific-technological research establishments and innovation and scientific-technological service centers; to establish a number of foreign-invested science and technology organizations after advanced models.

- To proactively build regulatory sandboxes for new business lines in order to create a legal corridor for innovation products and services.

b/ Distribution services

- To scrutinize international commitments and domestic laws, early completing regulations on distribution activities with a view to protecting to the utmost the rights and interests of Vietnam under international commitments.

- To review, amend and supplement preferential policies, developing complete trade infrastructure to create favorable conditions for development of various types of trade structures, especially in rural areas.

- To intensify measures to support the training and dissemination of knowledge on goods trading via commodity exchanges; to inspect and supervise goods trading activities and law observance by licensed units in order to ensure the market of goods trading via commodity exchanges and e-commerce players operate healthily, guaranteeing the interests of investors.

- To encourage enterprises to heighten the quality of human resources working in the distribution and retail sector with a view to boosting the operation efficiency of businesses.

- To enhance the alignment between retail enterprises and producers in creating sources of home-made commodities with competitive prices, ensuring the quality standards to satisfy the diverse and increasing shopping demands in Vietnam in order to supply them for retailers, reducing the dependence on imported goods of the same kinds.

- To study policies on enhancing the value chains, renew and facilitate circulation, concentrating on the formation and development of commodity supply chains, focusing primarily on chains to supply essential agricultural food for the domestic market.

- To formulate policies to encourage the application of e-commerce by distribution and logistics enterprises; to promote the application of e-commerce to the traceability of goods entering trade infrastructure systems such as supermarkets and marketplaces.

- To intensify international cooperation on the development of distribution services. To assist domestic enterprises in connecting with international e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba, Rakuten, etc.

c/ Healthcare services

- To heighten the quality of healthcare service provision:

+ To apply the entire people’s healthcare, organize the provision of public medical services, ensuring basic medical services, striving for the target that over 95% of the population are entitled to health management, monitoring, care and protection.

+ To raise the epidemic prevention and response capacity and the operation effectiveness of the grassroots healthcare level; to promptly respond to emergency issues, environmental incidents, ensuring health security. To apply scientific and technical advances and information technology in medical examination and treatment. To strongly develop traditional medicine combined with modern medicine.

- To plan the national network of health establishments to be streamlined and effective, providing healthcare services according to three professional tiers, meeting the change of illness models, population aging, international integration and the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the medical field.

- To further renew the operation mechanism and financial mechanism of public health establishments toward autonomy and accountability; healthcare service prices will precisely and fully include expenses and some accumulations for development investment, ensuring publicity, transparency and service quality.

- To substantively and comprehensively renew the training of human resources for healthcare services, who should possess both medical ethics and professional qualities.

- To intensify the application of information technology in management, disease prevention and treatment and health improvement; to apply artificial intelligence in healthcare. To step up proactive and active international integration and raise the effectiveness of international cooperation.

d/ Business support services

- To encourage business households to use business support services so as to speed up their conversion into enterprises toward the target that Vietnam will have two million enterprises by 2030 as set in the Party Central Committee’s Resolution No. 10/NQ-TW of June 3, 2017, on development of the private economy to become an important driving force of the socialist-oriented market economy.

- To further complete the legal framework for development of business support services; to review, evaluate and complete the legal framework for such services as accounting, audit, market research, and science and technology.

- To renew the organization and mechanism of operation of business associations. To complete the legal frameworks for the operation of associations, establishing secure and reasonable legal frameworks for their convenient establishment and stable development. On that basis, to intensify the transfer of public services in business fields to business associations and the private sector (for example, the grant of professional certificates, occupation certificates, certification and licensing of business activities, etc.).

dd/ Education and training services

- To review and develop the network of education and training institutions nationwide; to heighten the quality of teachers and educational administrators at all levels; to efficiently deploy the new general education program; to step up the career orientation and streaming in general education; to develop human resources, chiefly high-quality ones.

- To structure and plan the network of vocational education institutions toward openness, ensuring scale, structure and rationality of training disciplines, occupations and levels, geographical areas, standardization, modernization, with quality stratification.

- To standardize quality assurance conditions in the education system; to develop the national occupational skill quality assurance, assessment and certification system.

- To step up the application of information technology in education and training and the application of new education and training models on information technology platforms such as internet, mobile equipment (smart phones, ipads); to encourage models of cooperation between enterprises and education and training institutions in order to quantitatively and qualitatively meet the demands for human resources, particularly in high-demand sectors.

- To formulate policies to step up the educational socialization, raising the efficiency of investment in education. To involve the entire society with a view to increasing investment in physical foundations and supporting activities of education and training institutions.

- To intensify the application of international standards in the course of formulating and renewing training programs and organization of training.

C. RESOURCES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STRATEGY

1. Socio-economic resources for implementation of the Strategy: state budget funds, enterprise funds, international aid and other lawfully mobilized funding sources.

2. State budget funds must comply with the current regulations on state budget decentralization. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies and provincial-level People’s Committees shall base themselves on the objectives and tasks set out in the Strategy to estimate specific funds for implementation according to regulations.

3. To step up the mobilization of financial resources from organizations, individuals and enterprises at home and overseas for the materialization of the Strategy in accordance with law.

D. ORGANIZATION OF IMPLEMENTATION

1. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall:

- Assume the prime responsibility for overall coordination in the development of Vietnam’s service sector; develop general mechanisms and policies on development of the service sector; mechanisms and policies on inter-sectoral and multi-sectoral coordination on services to serve the national socio-economic development; study and propose mechanisms and policies for management and development of new services.

- Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with other ministries, sectors, provinces and centrally run cities in, attracting domestic and foreign resources for investment in services.

- Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related agencies in, formulating action programs for implementation of the Strategy; specify contents, tasks and performance time limits for ministries and sectors; ensure the integration of the Strategy’s objectives with the objectives of national and local 5-year and annual socio-economic development plans.

- Advise, summarize and report to the Government and the Prime Minister on the organization of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation, and on the regime of information and reporting on the implementation of the Strategy.

- Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and agencies in, supervising, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the Strategy by sectors, fields and localities; promptly propose to ministries, sectors and localities or competent authorities measures for handling arising difficulties and problems.

- Assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries and sectors and provincial-level People’s Committees in, reviewing the implementation of the Strategy, annually reporting it to the Prime Minister; organize a preliminary review of the implementation of the Strategy in 2025 and the final review in 2030.

2. Ministries, sectors and localities shall, according to their functions and tasks, incorporate the Strategy’s contents in their respective assigned professional tasks, specifically as follows:

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs for implementation of the Strategy, focusing on the fields of distribution, e-commerce and logistics services.

- The Ministry of Finance, the State Bank of Vietnam and the State Securities Commission of Vietnam shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs and organize the implementation of development strategies in the fields of securities, insurance, accounting-audit and banking.

- The Ministry of Transport shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs for the implementation of the Strategy, focusing on logistics and transport services.

- The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs for, and organizing the implementation of, the Strategy, focusing on tourist services.

- The Ministry of Science and Technology shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs for the implementation of the Strategy, focusing on scientific and technological services.

- The Ministry of Information and Communications shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs for the implementation of the Strategy, focusing on information and communications technology services and digital technology platforms for development of other services.

- The Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs for the implementation of the Strategy, focusing on education-training, vocational training services and supply of human resources for other services.

- The Ministry of Health shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related ministries, sectors and localities in, formulating action programs for the implementation of the Strategy, focusing on medical and healthcare services.

- Other ministries and sectors shall coordinate with related agencies in implementing the Strategy, supporting production and business activities, ensuring safety, national security and effective integration in the field of services.

- Provinces and centrally run cities shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with related agencies in, formulating action programs for the implementation of the Strategy within their respective localities.

3. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall, within the ambit of their assigned functions and tasks, regularly examine and monitor the Strategy implementation progress and results; in December every year, starting from 2021, review the Strategy implementation and report on the Strategy implementation results in the services under their respective management to the Ministry of Planning and Investment for sum-up reporting to the Prime Minister.

Article 2. This Decision takes effect on the date of its signing.

Article 3. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees, and related organizations and individuals shall implement this Decision.-

Prime Minister
NGUYEN XUAN PHUC