Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung requested the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to urgently perfect and submit to the Government by July 15 at the latest a Resolution regulating the simplification of administrative procedures regarding growing zone codes, packing facility codes, and the establishment of testing facilities aiming to immediately untie bottlenecks in agricultural exports, particularly for the durian commodity which is entering its peak season.

On the afternoon of July 8, at the Government headquarters, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung chaired a meeting with related ministries and agencies regarding untying difficulties in agricultural exports.

Attending the meeting were Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Nguyen Hoang Hiep; Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology Hoang Minh; Deputy Head of the Government Office Pham Manh Cuong; and representatives from the ministries of: Public Security, Justice, Finance, Industry and Trade, Foreign Affairs…

Untying "bottlenecks" directly affecting agricultural export activities

At the meeting, Deputy Minister of MARD Nguyen Hoang Hiep reported to the Deputy Prime Minister on the necessity to amend the Government's Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP dated January 24, 2026, regulating the import of plants carrying root balls and growing zone codes, packing facility codes.

According to Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep, amending Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP serves as an extremely urgent demand aiming to untie one of the bottlenecks in granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes, which is directly affecting agricultural export activities, particularly for the durian commodity entering its peak season.

According to the Deputy Minister, the deployment process of Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP over the past time demonstrated that a number of regulations are not yet appropriate for current production reality, causing difficulties in granting growing zone codes, extending dossier processing times, and escalating compliance costs for people and enterprises. Therefore, MARD proposed to amend the decree in the direction of applying digital technology aiming to maximize procedure simplification, shorten processing times, strengthen decentralization, apply digital technology, and powerfully switch from pre-inspection to post-inspection, which both creates favorable conditions for production, export, and guarantees state management efficiency while fully satisfying the requirements of importing markets.

One of the focal contents of the amendment draft is reviewing and simplifying the entire sequence and procedures of newly granting and re-granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes. The set target is cutting down administrative procedure processing times, reducing compliance costs, creating the most favorable conditions for people, cooperatives, and enterprises, while concurrently elevating management efficiency through digital data systems.

The Ministry also proposed to powerfully reform the process of granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes in the direction of executing completely on electronic environments. At that time, people and enterprises merely need to declare dossiers online, no longer having to submit paper dossiers as before.

The solutions reported by MARD aim to significantly shorten procedure processing times, while concurrently clarifying the responsibilities of local governments in management work. More importantly, the new model switches from a pre-inspection mechanism to post-inspection, which both guarantees management demands and creates favorable conditions for people and enterprises.

Simplification of administrative procedures regarding growing zone codes, packing facility codes

Regarding the roadmap to amend Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP, MARD proposed to execute under a shortened sequence and procedures, while concurrently still guaranteeing that impact assessments and gathering opinions from affected subjects are executed fully, substantially, and seriously. The Ministry sets the target to complete the decree amendment right within September 2026.

However, according to Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep, if waiting until the amended decree is promulgated, it will fail to satisfy realistic demands, because in only around half a month, the initial durian batches of Dak Lak will begin exporting and the crop peak season will wrap up around mid-September 2026.

Originating from that urgent demand, MARD petitioned the Government to promulgate a Resolution regulating the simplification of administrative procedures regarding growing zone codes and packing facility codes to generate a legal basis to deploy immediately urgent solutions while waiting for the amended decree to be finalized.

According to MARD, the Resolution will concentrate on fundamentally amending code granting methods, simplifying forms, maximizing the reduction of dossiers and procedures, but still guaranteeing full necessary information serving management and traceability work.

According to the Deputy Minister of MARD, once the Resolution is promulgated, it will serve as a legal basis to synchronously deploy the new process, creating a distinct transition in granting growing zone codes and packing facility codes, contributing to timely untying difficulties and obstacles for agricultural export activities during the current peak phase.

Participating with opinions at the meeting, representatives of ministries and sectors basically unified with the necessity to amend Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP and promulgate the resolution regulating administrative procedure simplification aiming to timely untie obstacles currently affecting agricultural export activities.

Opinions argued that the current focus is not a lack of consumption markets but elevating quality control capacities to satisfy the increasingly tight requirements of importing countries. Opinions also emphasized the demand to strengthen coordination among ministries, sectors, and localities in managing agricultural import-export activities, especially against the durian commodity, aiming to guarantee quality and firmly maintain the prestige of Vietnamese agricultural products in the international market.

Amending Decree 38, promulgating Resolution to untie agricultural export obstacles

Speaking to conclude the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Quoc Dung evaluated that over the past time, agriculture, forestry, and fishery exports continue to serve as a bright spot of the economy. The growth results of the MARD sector in the first 6 months of 2026 are very positive, creating an important driver for the country's general growth.

However, alongside achieved results, there remain existences and limitations, particularly difficulties and obstacles in agricultural export activities related to mechanisms and procedures, within which possess multiple inadequacies arising from executing Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the guiding spirit of the Prime Minister is that bottlenecks must be urgently untied, creating favorable conditions for agricultural exports, immediately against the durian commodity of the Central Highlands region. It must not be allowed that the agricultural products of people reach harvest seasons but get congested, unable to export due to inadequacies in management mechanisms, delays in granting growing zone codes, packing facility codes, testing activities, or due to still cumbersome administrative procedures.

The Deputy Prime Minister unified to execute a shortened sequence and procedures to amend Decree No. 38/2026/ND-CP, striving to complete a comprehensive amendment within September 2026.

However, to timely untie immediate difficulties against agricultural export activities, particularly against a backdrop where durians are entering their peak season, the Deputy Prime Minister unified the policy to construct a Government Resolution on simplifying administrative procedures against growing zone codes and packing facility codes. MARD urgently absorbs fully the opinions of ministries and sectors at the meeting, perfects the draft Resolution, and submits to the Government for consideration and promulgation by July 15 at the latest.

Reviewing the entire related process on granting growing zone codes

The Deputy Prime Minister requested MARD to review the entire processes and regulations related to granting growing zone codes, packing facility codes, testing facilities, quarantine, and agricultural product traceability; timely amending contents that remain overlapping, inadequate, or no longer appropriate for reality.

The amendment must thoroughly grasp the spirit of creating favorable conditions but not loosening management; simplifying administrative procedures but still guaranteeing tight quality control; creating maximum favorable conditions for export activities but not trading off with risks, not letting it affect the prestige, quality, and market of Vietnamese agricultural products.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that simplifying procedures must go hand in hand with elevating state management efficiency, guaranteeing good control of commodity quality and firmly maintaining the trust of importing markets.

Sending working groups to support localities to untie obstacles within 30 days

After the Resolution is promulgated, the Deputy Prime Minister requested MARD to coordinate with the People's Committees of localities to launch a peak deployment phase within a 30-day timeframe aiming to support the issuance of growing zone codes, packing facility codes, and untie difficulties and obstacles arising during the execution process.

MARD needs to establish working groups directly traveling down to localities during the 30-day timeframe to coordinate in reviewing and guiding the handling of granting growing zone codes, packing facility codes, testing facilities; while concurrently evaluating demands regarding human resources and proposing plans to handle arising situations. The deployment plan must be specifically constructed down to each locality, each focal point, guaranteeing clear tasks, clear responsibilities, and a determination to complete during the peak timeframe.

The Deputy Prime Minister requested localities, particularly the Central Highlands provinces, to bear direct responsibility in managing growing zone codes, packing facility codes, and testing facilities in the area. Chairmen of provincial-level People's Committees must directly direct and bear responsibility for execution results, guaranteeing that code issuance is deployed timely, under regulations, satisfying export demands.

Against the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Deputy Prime Minister requested to continue coordinating tightly with ministries and sectors in monitoring and updating market information, especially new regulations of importing markets such as China, the United States, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea. Concurrently, strengthening early warning work so that localities, associations, and enterprises proactively adapt to market policy alterations of importing countries.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned MARD to lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Industry and Trade to continue stepping up market opening, diversification, and expansion of agricultural export markets, particularly against the durian commodity of the Central Highlands region. Market expansion must be tied with elevating product quality, guaranteeing full satisfaction of standards and regulations of importing nations, contributing to stable agricultural consumption for people.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned MARD to lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology to research and perfect the system of standards and technical regulations aiming to strengthen agricultural product quality control in an open, transparent direction, satisfying the demands of importing markets, contributing to elevating competitive capacity and developing sustainable agricultural exports.

Source: Bao dien tu Chinh phu