Institutional reform shapes the future of Viet Nam’s blue economy

Nearly a decade after the adoption of Resolution No. 36-NQ/TW on Viet Nam’s Strategy for the Sustainable Development of the Marine Economy and the implementation of the Law on Marine and Island Resources and Environment, new opportunities have emerged alongside growing challenges. These include conflicts over marine spatial use, limitations in sea allocation mechanisms, and the need to transition toward a blue economy model.

The series Sustainable Development of the Marine Economy explores developments in coastal localities and features perspectives from experts, businesses, government agencies, and international organizations. It aims to identify opportunities, challenges, and institutional bottlenecks in Viet Nam’s journey to becoming a strong maritime nation that prospers from the sea.

Viet Nam has strong potential for developing a blue economy

Viet Nam aims to make the ocean economy a key driver of growth by 2030, with a vision toward 2045. In your view, what is the country’s greatest advantage in pursuing a blue economy model?

-  As highlighted in the World Bank’s Boosting Viet Nam’s Sustainable Marine Economy report, Viet Nam’s greatest advantage lies in the combination of its rich coastal assets and its strategic economic position. With a 3,260-kilometer coastline, abundant marine biodiversity, productive fisheries, extensive mangroves, and dynamic coastal provinces, the country enters the blue economy transition with exceptionally strong natural and economic foundations.

Viet Nam’s real strength is its diversity. The country already has established sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, and maritime transport, while significant untapped opportunities remain in marine aquaculture, offshore renewable energy, and blue carbon ecosystems.

The opportunity is not simply to extract more value from the ocean, but to view marine ecosystems as productive economic assets in their own right. Healthy coastal ecosystems support fisheries and tourism, strengthen coastal resilience against storms, and serve as important carbon sinks. In the long run, Viet Nam’s advantage will be determined less by the size of its marine space than by the effectiveness of its stewardship of these resources.

Beyond traditional strengths such as energy and maritime industries, which sectors do you believe hold the greatest promise for the blue economy over the next decade? How do you assess the prospects for attracting private investment, particularly when many conservation and ecosystem restoration projects have long payback periods?

- Fisheries, aquaculture, and especially marine aquaculture are well-positioned to become major drivers of Viet Nam’s blue economy over the next decade as the country expands scale, productivity, and technological capacity. More importantly, these sectors are attractive to private investors because they generate relatively stable revenues and are closely linked to global markets. Strong export performance, high commercial viability, and government support for infrastructure help reduce investment risks and attract additional private capital.

By contrast, marine conservation and ecosystem restoration remain more difficult to finance because their benefits are often indirect, including coastal protection, climate resilience, biodiversity conservation, and the maintenance of ecosystem services. This is why expanding blended finance mechanisms, blue bonds, carbon markets, and public-private partnerships will be essential to accelerating the transition toward a blue economy at scale.

Since July 2025, Viet Nam has reorganized its provincial administrative structure, creating larger localities with extensive coastal areas. What opportunities could this create for the country’s ocean economy strategy?

- Administrative restructuring presents an important opportunity for Viet Nam to move from fragmented coastal development toward more integrated ocean governance. This can help improve regional infrastructure planning, reduce overlapping investments, make more efficient use of coastal space, strengthen marine spatial planning, and better attract large-scale private investment.

However, restructuring alone will not be sufficient. Stronger institutions, better data-sharing, and more effective interagency coordination will still be essential to ensure that larger jurisdictions do not simply inherit existing governance challenges at a larger scale.

Toward long-term sustainability

In your opinion, what is the biggest bottleneck Viet Nam needs to address in developing a blue economy?

- The greatest challenge is not a lack of ambition. In fact, Viet Nam already has a clear strategic vision through Resolution 36 and related policy frameworks. The challenge lies in implementation, particularly fragmented management, overlapping institutional responsibilities, limited marine spatial planning capacity, and financing gaps.

Other issues, such as illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, continue to affect the sector’s sustainability and access to international markets. Addressing these issues requires stronger monitoring systems, upgraded fisheries infrastructure, more effective law enforcement, and a more integrated approach to coastal zone management.

Ultimately, the transition to a blue economy will depend on shifting from short-term resource exploitation toward long-term ecosystem management and resilience-building.

Among the priorities of institutional reform, infrastructure investment, ecosystem conservation, and mobilizing private capital, which should Viet Nam focus on most over the next five to ten years?

- All four priorities - institutional reform, infrastructure investment, ecosystem conservation, and private capital mobilization - are closely interconnected. However, institutional reform should come first because it determines how investments are managed, how ecosystems are protected, and how private capital is mobilized.

Stronger governance frameworks, clearer institutional responsibilities, improved marine spatial planning, and enhanced coordination mechanisms are essential foundations for the transition to a blue economy. Without these reforms, increased investment could exacerbate environmental degradation and resource-use conflicts rather than support sustainable growth.

At the same time, reforms must be translated into concrete actions through stronger monitoring systems, climate-resilient coastal infrastructure, more sustainable fisheries management, and better support for coastal communities.

The ultimate goal is not simply to expand the size of the ocean economy, but to build one that remains productive, resilient, and sustainable for decades to come.

Thank you very much for your insights!