Efforts to streamline business regulations in Vietnam have fallen short of government expectations, according to Director of the Administrative Procedures Control Agency, Ngo Hai Phan. Despite a 2020 government resolution aiming to simplify at least 20% of business regulations, many ministries have failed to submit their simplification plans. Phan attributed these shortfalls to a lack of cooperation and accountability among ministries and agencies. Urging them to accelerate their simplification efforts, he emphasised the importance of consulting businesses and affected parties to reduce administrative burdens without introducing new obstacles. Despite these challenges, the first half of 2023 saw the simplification or reduction of 92 regulations across eight legal documents, bringing the total number of simplified regulations since 2021 to 2,234.