Vietnam’s Reform of State-Owned Entities : Domestic and External Drivers

Since Vietnam joined the World Trade Organisation, it has pursued an active trade and investment policy and negotiated bilateral and multilateral agreements deepening its integration in the global value chains and investment flows. Recently, Vietnam ratified the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA). Concurrently, Vietnam has implemented reforms of the state-controlled economic structure leading to the equitisation of Vietnamese state-controlled entities (SCE) to improve their management and governance. The provisions of the free trade agreements that directly relate to state-controlled entities will be reviewed with an overview of the treaties’ other obligations. The chapter sustains that the obligations established in the free trade agreements constitute new norms that stimulate incremental reform of Vietnam’s state-owned entities, though with several carve-outs and exceptions that allow for special treatment for some of the most important SCEs