First session of the 15th NA concluded with big outcomes

NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stated that amid the raging COVID-19, the first session of the 15th NA has managed to discuss vital issues for Vietnam's socioeconomic development and elected new leaders and members of the state apparatus for the 2021-2026 tenure.

“The NA and its members have contributed many good ideas to the legislature’s many resolutions approved at this productive and successful session,” Chairman Hue said.

The first session of the 15th NA has been concluded after deciding on a series of vital issues

Emergency powers for NA Standing Committee

The NA session was rounded off with the approval of a resolution including a very important section highlighting some measures on preventing and combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

Specifically, despite regulations by the government, prime minister, and People’s Committees at all levels to fight COVID-19, stronger action is required to bring the pandemic under control.

“The NA’s Standing Committee needs to be granted powers over issues that usually belong to the NA during times when the legislature is not in meeting,” said a government document proposing the adding of measures on preventing and combating the COVID-19 pandemic into the NA’s resolution.

“The government and the prime minister need to be given the right to make decisions and take strong action to ensure the success of the country’s fight against the pandemic,” read the document. “The government needs to be authorised to apply anti-pandemic measures such as declaring emergency situation and other measures that have yet to be stipulated in the law but prove necessary to curb and control the pandemic in time and return the country and people’s lives to a new normal.”

The document elaborated that declaring an emergency situation would have adverse impacts on national security and defence, economy, social order and safety, external activities, and people’s life.

New hands at the wheel

The first session of the 15th NA has elected the leaders and members of the state apparatus for the 2021-2026 tenure.

Specifically, the NA re-elected Vuong Dinh Hue, who was Chairman of the 14th NA (since April 2021), as the head of the 15th legislative. In addition to him, new NA vice chairmen were elected, including Tran Thanh Man, Nguyen Khac Dinh, Nguyen Duc Hai, and Tran Quang Phuong, along with the chairpersons of the NA committees.

The NA also re-elected Nguyen Xuan Phuc as state president and Pham Minh Chinh as prime minister.

The legislative body also re-elected Vo Thi Anh Xuan as vice state president and approved the appointment of four new deputy prime ministers including incumbent Vu Duc Dam, Pham Binh Minh, Le Minh Khai, and Le Van Thanh.

In addition, the legislature also approved the appointment of 22 ministers and heads of ministerial-level agencies.

In early February, at the first plenum of the 13th Party Central Committee’s, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong was re-elected as General Secretary of the Party Central Committee for the 13th tenure.

Thus, Vietnam now has solidified its full leadership structure including general secretary, prime minister, president, and NA chair.

Key economic targets

Also, as one of the key outcomes of the session, a hallmark resolution on socioeconomic development for 2021-2025 was approved. Accordingly, Vietnam is targeting relatively high economic growth of 6.5-7 per cent a year during the period, with ambitions of becoming an upper middle income country by 2025.

To this end, this resolution urged efforts to implement the dual task of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and accelerating socioeconomic recovery.

The NA also passed a resolution on the 2021-2025 medium-term public investment plan, with the prime target of continuing the restructuring of public investment, paring down the ratio of public investment in total development investment to woo more private investment, and boosting infrastructure development.

“All efforts must be made to hit an average disbursement rate of more than 90 per cent in 2021-2025, with over 80 per cent of projects assigned capital being completed,” read the resolution.

Under the medium-term public investment plan, the state budget to be allocated for investment will be at least VND2.87 quadrillion($124.8 billion). This includes VND1.5 quadrillion ($65.2 billion) from the central budget – including VND1.2 quadrillion ($52.17 billion) of domestic capital and VND300 trillion ($13 billion) from foreign sources– and VND1.37 quadrillion ($59.57 billion) from localities’ budgets.