The Politburo’s Resolution 79 on the development of the state business sector has set a goal of having one to three state-owned enterprises (SOEs) among the world’s top 500 corporations by 2030.

SOEs as backbone of Vietnam’s economy The Politburo has just issued Resolution 79 on the development of the state-owned economic sector, emphasizing the need to restructure, build, and strengthen SOEs so they can lead and shape the market. The resolution underscores that over 80 years of development, and especially nearly four decades of the national renovation process, the state sector has maintained a central role in driving growth and safeguarding national defense, security, and social objectives, yet it continues to face numerous shortcomings and limitations. The policy and legal framework for the state sector has evolved slowly, and the management and utilization of state assets and resources remain inefficient. Many SOEs are not operating commensurately with their mandates or resource bases and have yet to take the lead in innovation or in steering key strategic industries. Against this backdrop, the resolution sets out solutions centered on key state resources, including land, mineral resources, infrastructure assets, the state budget, national reserves, SOEs, and public service units. Specifically, it underscores that the state sector plays a leading role in the socialist-oriented market economy, while remaining equal to other economic sectors and developing alongside them through cooperation and healthy competition. State economic resources must be comprehensively reviewed, inventoried, valued, and accounted for in accordance with market principles, while being closely aligned with socio-economic development objectives and national defense and security requirements. The state sector must take a pioneering role in development, leading and opening new avenues for growth, accelerating industrialization and modernization, restructuring the economy, and shaping a new growth model. The resolution also stresses the need to strengthen the Party’s leadership and improve the capacity, effectiveness, and efficiency of state management of the state sector, particularly in setting resource-use priorities and ensuring effective implementation. Accelerating SOEs’ development A key highlight of the resolution is its focus on sustained investment in and development of a select group of large, capable SOEs, positioning them to take a leading role in the economy’s key and strategic sectors. The priority areas span national defense and security, energy, transport and logistics, finance and banking, science and technology, electronics and telecommunications, digital infrastructure, strategic mineral extraction and processing, chemicals, construction and building materials, as well as agriculture and forestry. The resolution also highlights measures to boost charter capital, including permitting enterprises to retain all proceeds from equitization and state divestment, increasing the proportion of after-tax profits kept by firms, and reassessing fully depreciated assets that remain in use. It further promotes mergers, acquisitions, and transfers to enhance economies of scale and strengthen entire sectors. For nationally significant projects and overseas investments assigned by competent authorities outside enterprises’ business plans, the State will adopt policies to ensure adequate capital, provide interest rate support, and secure sufficient credit. In addition, the resolution encourages SOEs to invest in and form partnerships with other firms along their core value chains, as well as with technology-driven, innovation-oriented, and digital transformation enterprises. Restructuring and reorganizing Another key issue is the continued restructuring of state capital in enterprises, alongside reforms and reorganization of state-owned enterprises. The resolution calls for maintaining the equitization roadmap to improve operational efficiency and attract greater participation from other economic sectors, thereby strengthening corporate governance, upgrading technology, and enhancing financial capacity to support post-equitization growth. It also stresses that equitization must not weaken state control in strategic and critical industries, compromise nationally recognized brands, or result in the erosion of state assets. For enterprises in which the State does not need to hold a controlling stake, the proposed path includes mergers with other SOEs to form integrated value chains, achieve greater scale, and improve efficiency, or transfers to central or local state capital investment entities for a comprehensive assessment, classification, and the implementation of suitable capital restructuring measures. New opportunities for SOEs According to a 2026 strategic report by MBS Securities, SOEs currently account for around 29% of gross domestic product (GDP) and dominate many industries in terms of total assets, revenue, and market share, even enjoying monopoly-like advantages in sectors such as aviation and oil and gas. The analysis team expects Resolution 79 to provide an impetus comparable to that of Resolution 68 on private sector development. If resource bottlenecks are eased, SOEs are likely to accelerate in the period ahead, the report said. Moreover, the resolution is expected to reinforce the positive trend in the stock market, as capital has increasingly flowed into large listed SOEs since early 2026. According to a report by Yuanta Securities Vietnam, an estimated 53 companies listed across the three stock exchanges have state ownership ranging from 50% to 96%. Notably, many SOEs do not meet the criteria for public company status, which requires at least 10% of voting shares to be held by non-major shareholders and a minimum of 100 shareholders. However, the risk of losing public company status or being delisted is considered low, as these enterprises are implementing state capital restructuring plans that have already been approved. As a result, the stock market is anticipating a new wave of state divestment that could mirror the 2016-2018 period. The Politburo’s Resolution 79 aims to have, by 2030, 50 SOEs listed among the top 500 largest companies in Southeast Asia, with one to three entering the global top 500. It also targets having at least three state-owned commercial banks ranked among the 100 largest banks in Asia by total assets. All SOEs are to operate under modern, digital-based governance frameworks, with all state economic groups and state-owned corporations fully aligning their governance practices with OECD standards. By 2045, around 60 SOEs are expected to rank among the 500 largest enterprises in Southeast Asia, five SOEs among the global top 500, and at least 50% of public service units will be financially autonomous in covering recurrent and investment expenditures, or self-financing recurrent expenditures while operating effectively under market-based mechanisms.