by Vu Kim Chung
1-11-1999
Vietnam's National Assembly's Standing Committee released a communique on its October 20-29 meeting chaired by NA Chairman Nong Duc Manh. The communique said that also present at the meeting was Vice State President Nguyen Thi Binh, and that the NA Standing Committee had considered and made suggestions on the preparations for the sixth session of the tenth National Assembly.
In regard of the socio-economic tasks and the State budget spendings, the NA Standing Committee basically agreed with the assessment, targets and possible solutions made by the Government in its reports to the National Assembly. It stressed that despite difficulties and challenges, the national economy continued growing in 1999, earmarked with bumper harvests of farm produce, virtually high export value, landmark economic restructuring steps while macro-economic balances still remain, remarkable achievements in education-training and science and technology as well as in socio-cultural development while national security is maintained, thus stabilizing the living conditions of a majority of the national population while part of them have their lives considerably improved.
However, 1999 also witnessed year-on-year falling economic growth, difficulties in sales of goods, huge redundancy in workforce and social evils yet decreasing.
The NA Standing Committee laid stress on some possible solutions such as combination of production development with products marketing, attracting more investment capital and continuing adjusting the investment priorities to the current needs, concentrating investment capital on major projects with a large proportion of production output for exportation and possible high impact on a wide range of industries. It is necessary to harmonize on financing, monetary and credit policies, implement synchronically policies related to enterprises, restructure the State apparatuses, and well execute projects on poverty alleviation and social welfare.
Bills and ordinances that would be included into the 2000 law-building programme must be of primary importance and high feasibility. Thorough consideration should be made for remaining construction projects of this year's programme.
The NA Standing Committee also considered the preparations for the coming elections of People's Councils at all levels for the 1999-2004 tenure, concluding that the preparatory work is on schedule.
It urged the relevant agencies and all localities throughout the country speed up their work in the way that the elections would take place in an atmosphere of democracy, in line with law, in security and economically.
The committee considered a bill on guidlines for NA deputies in their working reception of citizens, supervision of responsible authorities' performance in dealing with citizens' petitions, complaints and proposals.
Consideration was also made towards the amendment and supplementation of the ordinances governing civil trials, economic courtsuits and labour disputes.
With respect to social evils, the Standing Committee said that its anti-corruption investigations sub-committee was going forward with the investigations of bribes paid to officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by the prime consultant and corruption and management irregularities associated with the Asian Development Bank-financed Irrigation and Flood Protection Rehabilitation Project. Other issues on the meeting's agenda were the implementation of the 40-hour working week, the settlement of petitions and complaints in the third quarter, and the solution to the Y2K computer virus.