Editor's note: In just four years, the Party Central Committee has adopted two landmark resolutions on land policy. Resolution 21 builds upon, rather than replaces, Resolution 18, while introducing important changes in the approach to managing and unlocking the value of land resources. In this series, VietNamNet examines the key policy shifts and their potential implications for citizens, businesses and Vietnam's long-term economic development.

Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW, issued in 2022, emerged as Vietnam sought to address long-standing weaknesses in land governance. Persistent challenges involving land-use planning, compulsory land acquisition, compensation, valuation, inefficient resource allocation and prolonged disputes highlighted the need for comprehensive institutional reform.

The resolution laid the foundation for the 2024 Land Law, which significantly reshaped Vietnam's legal framework governing land.

Yet only four years later, Vietnam's development agenda has evolved considerably.

The country is now pursuing sustained double-digit economic growth while striving to achieve high-income status by 2045. As national development objectives change, so too must the way policymakers view the country's strategic resources.

Against this backdrop, Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW represents not a departure from Resolution 18 but its next stage of development.

While preserving the core principles established in the earlier resolution, Resolution 21 introduces a broader strategic vision of land's role in national development.

If Resolution 18 primarily sought to answer how land should be managed more effectively, Resolution 21 asks a more ambitious question: How can land become a strategic resource, a competitive advantage and a long-term engine of economic growth?

This objective is explicitly reflected in the resolution's call to "maximize the value of land resources, transforming land into a strategic resource, a competitive advantage and a driving force for national development."

From land administration to unlocking land resources

The first - and arguably most significant - shift introduced by Resolution 21 is the transition from managing land to unlocking the value of land resources.

Land administration remains fundamental.

Land continues to be owned collectively by the people, with the State acting as the representative owner responsible for unified management through planning, allocation, leasing and land recovery while ensuring efficient and sustainable use.

However, Resolution 21 broadens the perspective.

Rather than viewing land solely as an asset requiring strict regulation to prevent waste, legal violations or resource losses, it places land at the center of Vietnam's long-term development strategy.

Land is now framed as a productive asset capable of generating growth, strengthening competitiveness and expanding the country's development space.

This represents a meaningful evolution in policy thinking.

For many years, discussions about land in Vietnam largely focused on administrative issues such as allocation, compensation, pricing, disputes and regulatory procedures.

These remain important.

But viewed only through that lens, land is treated primarily as an administrative subject rather than an economic resource.

Resolution 21 encourages policymakers to ask a broader question.

The issue is no longer simply whether land is properly managed, but whether it is generating value commensurate with its potential.

A parcel of land may be fully compliant from a legal standpoint while remaining unused for years.

A project may satisfy every procedural requirement yet contribute little to employment, investment or economic growth.

Public land may be legally protected while failing to create meaningful public value.

Proper administration alone does not necessarily translate into effective resource utilization.

Resolution 21 therefore shifts attention from procedural compliance toward measurable outcomes.

The ultimate benchmark is not merely whether regulations have been followed but whether land contributes to higher productivity, stronger economic performance and improved public welfare.

This explains why the resolution repeatedly describes land as a strategic resource, a competitive advantage and a development driver.

These are not simply political slogans.

They reflect a broader philosophy of economic development.

Land is strategic because virtually every major national priority - from industrialization and urbanization to digital transformation, green growth, logistics hubs, innovation centers and infrastructure - depends upon it.

Land creates competitive advantage because transparent access, stable tenure and predictable costs directly influence Vietnam's investment climate.

Land becomes a development engine when it is allocated efficiently and transformed into productivity, employment, infrastructure, technological advancement and higher living standards.

In this sense, Resolution 21 extends the institutional reforms initiated under Resolution 18 by emphasizing that land governance should ultimately serve national development.

From managing land-use rights to creating value

The second major shift involves moving beyond the administration of land-use rights toward creating value from land.

Historically, Vietnamese land policy has focused primarily on defining, protecting and administering land-use rights.

Issues such as land allocation, leasing, conversion, recovery, compensation, valuation and land-use certificates have dominated policy reform.

Resolution 21 maintains the importance of these legal mechanisms.

However, it places them within a much broader objective: maximizing the economic and social value generated by land.

This represents another significant conceptual shift.

Land alone does not create growth.

Value emerges only when land is combined with capital, labor, technology, effective governance and functioning markets.

An undeveloped parcel may command a high market price yet contribute little to national competitiveness.

Conversely, efficiently utilized land can generate thousands of jobs, foster innovation, stimulate urban development and create entirely new economic ecosystems.

The central question therefore becomes not how much land is worth, but how much value land creates.

Resolution 21 accordingly places greater emphasis on resource allocation.

Land should flow toward those capable of using it most productively.

Land-use rights should be sufficiently secure to encourage long-term investment.

Land markets should function transparently so that resources naturally move toward higher-value uses.

Meanwhile, the State should employ fiscal tools to ensure that increases in land value are distributed fairly among government, businesses and citizens.

Viewed from this perspective, land pricing becomes more than an administrative exercise.

It becomes an instrument of development policy.

Artificially low prices risk wasting public resources.

Excessively high prices can increase production costs, reduce housing affordability and weaken economic competitiveness.

The objective should therefore not be maximizing government revenue from land, but maximizing the broader developmental value that land generates.

A nation's prosperity is determined less by rising land prices than by the productivity, innovation, employment and opportunity created on each hectare.

This may well represent the most important contribution of Resolution 21: expanding Vietnam's land policy from protecting rights toward creating national value.

From administrative control to modern governance

The third major evolution concerns the role of government itself.

If the first shift redefines the purpose of land, and the second redefines policy objectives, the third focuses on improving how the State governs land resources.

For many years, weaknesses in land management were viewed primarily as shortcomings in legislation.

Whenever problems emerged, the response was often to amend laws, introduce new regulations or revise procedures.

While important, experience has shown that many bottlenecks stem not from legal gaps but from weaknesses in implementation.

Projects are frequently delayed because of fragmented data systems, overlapping administrative procedures and unclear institutional responsibilities.

Land planning may exist without timely data updates.

Approved projects may stall because multiple agencies exercise overlapping authority without clear accountability.

As Vietnam seeks faster economic growth, governance capacity itself becomes an increasingly important constraint.

Resolution 21 therefore places considerable emphasis on modernizing land governance.

Its priorities include developing an integrated national land database connected to other government information systems, expanding decentralization while strengthening accountability, accelerating digital transformation to improve transparency and reduce transaction costs, and shifting public administration from process-based control toward results-based governance.

For citizens and businesses, what ultimately matters is not how many agencies review an application or how many administrative steps are completed.

They care whether rights are protected, costs are reduced, projects proceed efficiently and land resources genuinely contribute to development.

This explains why Resolution 21 discusses digital transformation, data infrastructure, decentralization, accountability and governance alongside land policy itself.

Land can become a genuine development resource only if government develops the institutional capacity to manage it effectively.

A new approach to development

Viewed in its broader context, Resolution 21 should not be understood as replacing Resolution 18.

Rather, it builds upon the institutional foundation established four years earlier while expanding Vietnam's strategic vision.

Its three major conceptual shifts can be summarized simply.

First, it moves from administering land to unlocking land resources.

Second, it moves from managing land-use rights to creating value from land.

Third, it moves from administrative control to modern governance based on data, accountability and measurable outcomes.

These are not merely policy adjustments.

They reflect a broader evolution in Vietnam's development philosophy.

In an era of global competition, national success depends increasingly not on the abundance of natural resources but on the ability to transform those resources into sustainable value.

For Vietnam, land remains one of its most important strategic assets.

The lasting significance of Resolution 21 may therefore lie not only in further improving the Land Law or resolving existing institutional bottlenecks.

Its greater contribution may be introducing a new development paradigm - one that seeks not merely to regulate a valuable resource, but to transform land into one of the country's most powerful engines of long-term growth.

Nguyen Si Dung
Former Vice Chairman of the Office of the National Assembly