National Assembly’s session kicks off

The 13th National Assembly’s eighth session kicked off - photo Duc Thanh

The October 20 to November 28 sessions are taking place in the new National Assembly building, which replaced the old building at the same location at Hanoi’s Ba Dinh square.

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung stated in his opening remarks that “This sessions takes place at a time when the macro-economy has been stabilised, inflation has been curbed and the economy is bouncing back with positive growth signals and solid budget revenues.”

National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung - photo VGP

He said the current session would focus on discussing and adopting 18 laws and three draft resolutions, while commenting on another 12 laws.

“This will be the most laws ever considered and adopted by a National Assembly session. There are many important laws directly related to continued improvements of the socio-economic institution, state apparatus, human rights, citizens’ basic rights, and administrative and judiciary reforms in line with the 2013 Constitution,” he stressed.

The session will also consider and discuss 2014’s socio-economic development results and the state budget, as well as socio-economic development and state budget plans for 2015. Resolutions on these will be enacted.

Notably during the session, the second ballot-based confidence vote will be held on officials holding positions either elected or approved by the National Assembly or people’s councils.

“Thanks to our thorough preparation, the National Assembly believes that it can complete this crucial task for the good of the people, the party and the state,” Hung affirmed.

The first confidence vote was conducted in June last year for 47 officials. It was highly valued by the people because it was considered a valuable tool in assessing officials’ qualifications.

The confidence vote, the country’s first, was conducted by ballot with three levels – ‘high confidence’, ‘confidence’ and ‘low confidence’.

“Confidence votes reflect the country’s economic, social, defense, security and judicial situation. The results also reflect the effectiveness of the state apparatus in general and the work results of officials subject to the vote,” Hung said.

The 47 officials facing the vote include the state president and vice president, the National Assembly chairman and his deputies, chairman of the Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee, chairmen of the National Assembly’s specialised committees, members of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the prime minister and his deputies, ministers and other government members, judges of the People’s Supreme Court, and the head of the People’s Supreme Procuracy.

The eighth session will also see the National Assembly discuss economic restructuring with emphasis on public investment, state-owned enterprises and the banking system. A relevant resolution concerning restructuring will also be promulgated.

Photo Duc Thanh

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung stated in a socio-economic report at the session that the economy was continuing to grow, at 5.09 per cent in the first quarter, 5.25 per cent in the second quarter, and 6.19 per cent in the third quarter, coming to an average of 5.62 per cent for the first nine months of the year, higher than last year.

“We expect the economy to grow at around 5.8 per cent this year,” he said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung - photo Duc Thanh

He said that in 2015 the key target would be “strengthening macro-economic stability, boosting the implementation of strategic breakthroughs and economic restructuring in correlation with changes to the growth model, and continuing to improve the effectiveness, productivity and competitiveness of the economy as a whole. Great efforts are being made to outdo this year’s growth figure.”

The government has projected that in 2015 GDP and CPI would increase 6.2 and 5 per cent, respectively. The nation’s total export turnover is forecast to rise 10 per cent with a trade deficit of 5 per cent of total export turnover. Meanwhile, the budget deficit will be 5 per cent of GDP and total development capital will be 30 per cent of GDP.