The highest authority of the Communist Party of Vietnam is its National Congress which meets once every 5 years. The most important overall policy of the Party, and thus the significant changes in the economic and social policy of the country, is set out in its Resolutions. The standing and more influential bodies of the Party are however its Central Committee and the Politburo.
The economic reform, doi moi¸ originates from the Resolution of the VIth National Congress in 1986 which recognized for the first time the “multi-sectoral economy.” This gave way to the new Constitution 1992 which stated that Vietnam would develop a “multi-component commodity economy functioning in accordance with market mechanisms under the management of the State and following a socialist orientation”. The recognition of multi-sectoral economy, more specifically of private ownership, was a significant change from the previous regime under the Constitution of 1980 which recognized only ownership by the entire people and by collectives.