During the one-month session starting on May 21, Vietnamese lawmakers would discuss and pass 13 bills and two draft resolutions, said National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung in his opening statement.
The bills are those concerning prices, deposit insurance, anti-money laundering, higher education, tobacco harm prevention, labor union (amended), judicial assessment, law dissemination and education, handling of administrative violations, advertisement, water resources (amended) and
The two draft resolutions include one on the law-making program for 2013 and the other on improvement of the quality and effectiveness of activities of the National Assembly.
National Assembly deputies are also expected to comment on other six draft laws on publication (amended), national reserve, cooperatives (amended), tax administration (amended), electricity (amended), and lawyers (amended).
Ratification of the 2010 state budget balance sheet, review of the implementation of policies and laws concerning public investment in agriculture, farmers and rural areas and adoption of tax solutions to ease financial difficulties faced by enterprises and individuals this year are also on the agenda of the session.
The National Assembly is also scheduled to vote to remove deputy Dung Thi Hoang Yen, of southern Long An province, from the legislative body for alleged dishonesty in her records.
Together with the opening session, the closing and question and answer sessions and some debate sessions on matters of public concern will be broadcast live.
At the opening session, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc presented the Government’s supplementary report on socio-economic development in the last year and the first quarter of this year, as well as its plan to operate the economy for the rest of this year.
The report remarked that in 2011, the economic growth rate was maintained, inflation controlled, the macro economy positively progressed, social welfare was assured, national security and social security were strengthened, and international relations and integration were promoted.
Apart from the positive results, the Deputy Prime Minister said some socio-economic development tasks in 2011 were limited. Particularly, the macro economy maintained implicit risks and instability. Meanwhile, the economy’s competitiveness and growth rate were not improved and social labor productivity remained low.
Weak social services were improved slowly, especially in healthcare and education. In addition, the environment around rivers, industrial zones and some big cities seriously deteriorated.
Reviewing the socio-economic situation in the first four months of this year, Phuc said initial positive changes have been recorded. The increase of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) slowed in the middle of last year and dropped markedly over the first months of this year. Interest rates decreased, exchanged rates stabilized and the balance of trade improved.
However, the Deputy Prime Minister said, the economic growth showed signs of decrease. Businesses, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises, met many problems such as difficult access to capital, high input costs, slow sale of products and high inventories. In many regions, people’s lives were still difficult and social security in some places was unreliable. Social crimes, particularly organized crimes and police offenses have not abated.
Promoting production, trade and investment while continuing to curb inflation, macro economic stabilization was highlighted by the Deputy Prime Minister as the Government’s measures to step up the country’s stable development.
The Government would restructure and renovate current development models by increasing the efficiency and competitive edge of the economy, he said.
Social security and welfare would be further improved while environmental protection would be promoted, he added.
Completing the legal system, synchronizing administration reforms, improving state administration and promoting the fight against corruption and wastefulness were the Government’s major tasks in the coming time.
Enhancing national and social security, improving international relations, and promoting information dissemination to create social consensus were among the Government’s to-do list.
Economic restructuring
At the opening session, lawmakers heard the general economic restructuring scheme reported by Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh.
The scheme aligned renovations of the growth model with improving quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy, Vinh said.
“The plan’s target is to improve the efficiency of financial resources in the economy, raise productivity, and sharpen the competitive edge of the economy,” he said.
The restructuring process would be split into two phases: short-term (five years) and long-term. In the five-year period,
For a long-term view, the country would restructure manufacturing and services, bolster enterprise renovation, accelerate the added value of local products, and gradually increase the competitiveness of products, enterprises and finally the economy.
The restructuring aims to raise the ratio of manufacturing and decrease the proportion of agriculture.
Under the plan, some industries and products would be given priority to make full use of competitive advantages.
The scheme maps out 12 basic solutions to realize the final targets, especially the completion of a market-oriented economy, renovations in investment mechanisms to attract foreign and local enterprises to priority sectors, improvements to human resource quality, and the development of sciences and technologies to bolster the competitiveness of the economy.
Nguyen Van Giau, chairman of the National Assembly Economic Committee said that besides the above-mentioned priority services, the Government should considering bolstering the development of e-commerce, soft services, construction and financial services.
“There was not a good connection between basic solutions and a dearth of solutions for social and environmental issues,” he commented.
To restructure state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the Economic Committee recommended building up a transparent management mechanism to ensure that SOEs use financial resources effectively, disclose information and financial statements periodically, and compete them fairly.
“SOEs should target fields that other economic sectors don’t have enough financial capacity or experience to exploit modern industries with high added values,” Giau said.