Vietnam's number of ministries to drop by 5 in major reshuffle

The Vietnamese government is set to reshuffle its apparatus by reducing the number of ministries by five, while the parliament will have the tally of its committees cut by four.

The information was disclosed by Le Minh Hung, head of the Party Central Committee's (PCC) Organization Commission, at a conference hosted by the Politburo and the PCC's Secretariat on Sunday.

Hung reported that the government is considering mergers of several ministries and government agencies.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Planning and Investment is planned to merge with the Ministry of Finance, while the Ministry of Transport will merge with the Ministry of Construction.

The Ministry of Information and Communications will merge with the Ministry of Science and Technology to perform state management tasks related to science, technology, and digital transformation.

Some of the Ministry of Information and Communications' duties will be handed over to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Ministry of Education and Training, and other relevant bodies.

Other proposed mergers include the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, executing state management tasks related to agriculture, natural resources and the environment.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs will be dissolved, with its duties transferred to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, and related agencies.

The Commission for Management of State Capital at Enterprises and the National Financial Supervisory Commission will cease operations, with their duties going to the Ministry of Finance, the State Bank of Vietnam, and other relevant entities.

The government is also considering dissolving some agencies under ministries, and in the immediate future, rearrange agencies like the State Treasury, General Department of Taxation, General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam Social Security, Market Management Agency, and others, and dissolving some.

Hung also revealed that the National Assembly is preparing to reduce the number of its committees.

The Economic Committee will merge with the Finance-Budget Committee, while the Committee for Social Affairs will merge with the Culture-Education Committee. The Committee for Judicial Affairs and the Committee for Legal Affairs will also be merged.

The Foreign Affairs Committee will cease operations, and its duties will be transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other relevant bodies of the National Assembly.