The Government's regular meeting - October 2016

 RESOLUTION

THE GOVERNMENT’S REGULAR MEETING - OCTOBER 2016

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated June 19, 2015;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree No. 138/2016/ND-CP dated October 01, 2016 promulgating the working regulation of the Government;

Based on the discussion of the Cabinet’s members and the conclusion of the Prime Minister at the Government’s regular meeting in October 2016, held on October 29, 2016,

RESOLVES:

1. Regarding the draft Ordinance amending and supplementing some articles of the Ordinance on preferential treatment of people with meritorious services to the revolution

The Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs shall lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and the Government Office to collect comments of the Cabinet members to adjust and improve the draft Ordinance amending and supplementing some articles of the Ordinance on preferential treatment of people with meritorious services to the revolution. The Minister of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs shall be authorized by the Prime Minister and act on behalf of the Government to report to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

2. Regarding the draft Resolution of the Government replacing the Resolution No. 67/NQ-CP dated September 8, 2014 assigning the Prime Minister to perform several tasks related to international treaties on behalf of the Government

The Government unanimously agreed on the content of the draft Resolution submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice and the Government Office to collect comments of the Cabinet members to complete the draft Resolution and submit to the Prime Minister for signing before November 10, 2016.

3. Regarding the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Viet Nam and the Government of Laos on cooperation in the development of hydropower projects in Laos and power purchase

In principle, the Government agreed with the content of the Memorandum of Understading between the Government of Viet Nam and the Government of Laos on cooperation in developing hydropower projects in Laos, connecting power systems and power purchase between the two countries.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Government Office to collect comments of the Cabinet members to revise, supplement and adjust agreements between the Government of Viet Nam and the Government of Laos that are related to energy cooperation between the two countries to ensure the strict implementation of the conclusion of the Political Bureaus of the two countries before December 26, 2015 on the construction of hydroelectric dams on the Mekong river, improve mechanisms on investment cooperation, power prices, and acquisition of hydropower projects.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Government Office to put the contents of the Memorandum of Understanding to working agenda of the Viet Nam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee on Bilateral Cooperation to further strengthen the cooperation between the two countries.

4. Regarding report of the Task Force on the implementation progress of conclusions, directions and tasks assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister in October 2016

The Government agreed with the content of the report of the Task Force and requested ministries and agencies to urgently examine to adjust, draw experience and solve problems and limitations indicated through the inspection; implement recommendations of the Task Force; focus on completing the outstanding tasks and work; regular review and implement the tasks assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister and ensure their quality and timeliness.

The Task Force shall continue to examine the implementation progress of the tasks assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister associated with reviewing the fulfillment of responsibilities related to management, administration and handling of work of ministries, agencies and localities under the direction of the Prime Minister, and report at the Government’s regular meeting in November 2016.

Ministers, Heads of Ministerial-level agencies, Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally-governed cities shall focus on improving administrative disciplines and order in public service delivery, strictly implement tasks, conclusions and directions of the Government and the Prime Minister.

The Ministry of Home Affairs shall strengthen the inspection and examination of public service delivery and civil servants in the organization of implementation of the tasks assigned by the Government and the Prime Minister.

5. Regarding the socio-economic situation in October and the first 10 months of 2016, the implementation progress of Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 07, 2016 of the Government on the major tasks and solutions guiding the implementation of the socio-economic development and State budget plan in 2016

The Government unanimously agreed that: The socio-economic situation in October and the first 10 months of 2016 recorded positive changes in most areas. The economy continued to rebound and grow. Almost all economic industries observed considerable growth. In particular, growth rate of the processing and manufacturing industry was higher than that of the same period last year. Agricultural production gradually recovered and improved despite of difficulties caused by floods and natural disasters. The service industry continued to prosper. Total sales of consumer services was relatively high. The number of international tourists to Viet Nam increased sharply over the same period last year. Export growth momentum was maintained, in which exports of agricultural and forest product group continued to record a high level. In principle, economic balances were maintained and remained relatively stable. Inflation was under control. Money market and banking activities observed positive changes. Deposit and lending rates were lowered. Foreign exchange reserves increased. Inflows of foreign direct investment (FDI), ODA and preferential loans rose over the same period last year. Administrative reforms and business environment continued to be improved. According to the World Bank, in 2016, Viet Nam jumped by 9 places to stand at 82th position out of 190 countries evaluated. Business development was relatively positive. The number of registered enterprises and the number of newly established enterprises began to rise again. The fields of education and training, science and technology, labor and employment, health care received full attention in direction and implementation. Prompt and drastic responses and remedial measurers were made to deal with floods in central provinces thanks to the attention of the authorities and agencies, socio-political organizations and the community. There were many noble gestures of agencies, organizations and individuals for timely sharing and helping people in Central provinces to overcome difficulties, quickly stabilize their lives and production. Political security and social order were guaranteed. Traffic accidents decreased in the number of cases, the number of deaths, and the number of injuries. Foreign affairs achieved a number of positive results. Many major and important diplomatic events were successfully organized, contributing to opening up prospective and new cooperation opportunities.

However, the country still faced many difficulties and challenges. Macroeconomic balances were not really stable. Low record was made in central budget revenues. Public debt approached the allowed limit. The equitization progress of State enterprises remained slow. The number of enterprises which registered for suspension or dissolution remained relatively high. Youth and newly graduated students still faced difficulties in finding jobs. Smuggling, commercial fraud, counterfeiting, shoddy goods remained complicated. Lives of people in remote and ethnic minority areas, areas affected by natural disasters and environmental incidents remained difficult.

Against that backdrop, the Government requested ministries, agencies and localities to focus on overcoming difficulties, maximize their potential, promote the strengths of each sector, each field, each region, determine to effectively implement the tasks and solutions set out in the Resolutions of the Party, the National Assembly and the Government, particularly solutions to ensure the objectives of socio-economic development in the last months of 2016, and actively prepare an action plan to implement the tasks for 2017 from the first days and first months of the year, strive to achieve the targets on exports and economic growth in 2016 and the first quarter of 2017. In particular, especially the following tasks:

- Ministries, agencies and localities shall focus on implementing the tasks to improve the business environment and enhance the competitiveness within their assigned authority and state management fields, in which each specific criteria and indicator measured by the World Bank and the World Economic Forum in the 2016 ratings should be reviewed. Analysis and explanation should be made of the indicators which were relegated and/or remained low. Plans and specific measures should be taken to improve the ranking in 2017, reported to the Prime Minister, and concurrently submitted to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. The Ministry of Planning and Investment was assigned to report to the Prime Minister in November 2016 and prepare for the National Conference on Improving Business and Investment Environment.

- The State Bank of Viet Nam shall actively and flexibly manage monetary policy, create favorable conditions for people and enterprises to access credit at reasonable interest rates, strictly control credit quality, closely monitor developments of non-performing loans, with measures to curb new bad debts incurred, ensure exchange rate stability and liquidity of the banking system, especially at the end of the year, closely manage the operations of mandatorily acquired banks and weak banks to ensure safety of the banking system, control inflation, and expeditiously complete the Scheme of restructuring credit institutions and settling bad debts in the 2016 – 2020 period and ways to deal with weak credit institutions.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with ministries, agencies and localities to draft the Resolution of the Government on the major tasks and solutions guiding the implementation of the socio-economic development and State budget plan in 2017 and submit to the Government’s meeting with localities scheduled in December 2016; synthesize and report to the Prime Minister of the plan on transfer of central budget in 2016 of ministries, agencies, and localities that were characterized with slow disbursement by the end of September 30, 2016; funding planned for 2017 will not be allocated to projects with disbursement rate below 30% [of the total planned budget for 2016] by the end of September 2016 unless there are objective reasons; submit to the Prime Minister the public investment plan for 2017 within the stipulated deadlines; develop and propose mechanisms and incentives to promote attraction of foreign investment from multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises with strong potential, advanced technology, encourage inbound technology transfer; research and develop planning of economic clusters, pilot models of special economic zones to link foreign enterprises and Vietnamese enterprises in global production networks and value chains; review and improve policies to support and encourage entrepreneurship and enterprise development; complete the 2016-2020 economic restructuring scheme after receiving feedbacks from the National Assembly; and submit to the Prime Minister a master plan for restructuring the economy in January 2017.

- The Ministry of Finance shall strengthen inspection and examination activities to reduce losses to the state budget; actively accelerate and expand tax base and recovery of tax arrears; inspect and strictly control the declaration of dutiable value; implement radical measures to promote budget savings, especially saving of recurrent expenditures and use of public assets; chair and coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to determine the value of land use rights in accordance with market mechanisms and auction principles in rearrangement of land base of state agencies, units, and joint-stock enterprise; coordinate with governing ministries to closely monitor the prices of essential goods for appropriate management and inflation control solutions within the authority assigned by the National Assembly; avoid increase in electricity prices and medical service prices in the last two months of 2016; strengthen the fight against smuggling and trade fraud by the end of the year; and coordinate with the Steering Committee for Enterprise Renewal and Development and the Government Office to organize a national conference on equitisation and restructuring of state-owned enterprises in November 2016.

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall closely monitor local and global market changes, foster trade promotion, search and expansion of export markets, export goods restructuring, raise the share of exports manufactured from domestic materials, and promote production of goods with large export potential; actively negotiate with importing countries concerned to remove technical barriers and boost exports to ASEAN markets; lead the implementation of policies and measures to support industrial development; strengthen the communication of free trade agreements that Viet Nam has joined for people and enterprises to understand and prepare appropriate production and business plans; implement solutions to ensure availability of essential goods and avoid shortage of goods and price hike in the end of the year and during the Lunar New Year; coordinate with localities to promote price stabilization program; focus on developing retail network across the country, especially at municipalities; actively develop and prepare specific plans to ensure availability of national energy and power for socio-economic development in the coming years, especially the supply of electricity to Southern provinces; speed up urgent and key investment projects and works of the power sector; develop and complete the restructuring scheme for the industry and trade sectors, and report to the Prime Minister in December 2016.

- The Ministry of Transport shall direct to accelerate the implementation of key traffic projects and works and preparation of new projects; research and propose a specific mechanism to manage and invest in important intersections in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City and report to the Prime Minister; strengthen measures to guarantee traffic order and safety and prepare a plan to ensure availability of transportation means serving the people during solar New Year and the Lunar New Year; and chair and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to direct further fee reduction at least at 19 BOT highway toll stations in 2016.

- The Ministry of Construction shall coordinate with ministries, agencies and localities to organize a national conference on social housing and housing for workers.

- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall focus on directing and promoting the development of agricultural production to meet domestic demand by the end of the year, the Lunar New Year and for export; strengthen inspection and examination of the use of prohibited substances and antibiotics in animal husbandry; chair and coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to open an inspection and handling of fake plant protection products and fertilizers; closely monitor weather conditions to adjust time for sowing and production of each region accordingly, actively avoid acute cold weather, drought and salinity intrusion; focus on developing brand of Vietnamese rice and ensure stability of the rice market; improve the protection and development of forests, resolutely close natural forests, closely manage the use of forest land in the Central Highlands; and review and supplement to the plan on agricultural and rural development for the 2016 – 2020 period on the basis of the economic restructuring scheme for the 2016 – 2020 period which were approved by the National Assembly.

- The Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs shall direct the implementation of policies on social security and social welfare to create jobs, especially for people in remote areas, areas in special hardship, areas affected by natural disasters, environmental incidents in the Central provinces, ethnic minorities and people with meritorious services to the revolution; direct localities to review and classify drug-addicted individuals admitted to treatment and rehabilitation facilities; strengthen management and improve operational efficiency of treatment and rehabilitation facilities; complete the transformation of drug treatment and rehabilitation facilities across the country under Resolution No. 98/NQ-CP dated December 26, 2014 of the Government, and report to the Prime Minister of the transformation results before December 31, 2016; and study and propose solutions to lower the insurance rate for labor accidents, occupational diseases and unemployment insurance to reduce costs for businesses.

- The Ministry of Education and Training shall develop mechanisms to motivate the improvement of education and training quality at every level of education; announce the number of graduates that have been employed in every university and every discipline; study on a mechanism for family to evaluate school and classroom; strengthen the communication and well-preparation of organizational conditions and provide specific guidance on schemes on high school graduation and college entrance exams in 2017.

- The Ministry of Health shall focus on strengthening disease prevention, especially seasonal diseases with high potential to spread; accelerate the implementation of the roadmap to universal health insurance; strengthen inspection, supervision, and strict handling of abuse and fraud in health insurance; enhance hospital governance capacity and promote training of human resources in the direction of integration; actively implement the Scheme on strengthening quality management system of medical testing for the 2016 – 2025 period, develop a calibration test system interconnecting test results nationwide of eligible health facilities to reduce inconvenience and cost for patients; strengthen direction of activities to ensure food safety, especially during the Lunar New Year; chair and coordinate with the Ministry of Defense, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, the People's Committee of Ha Nam province to accelerate the progress of construction and investment, procurement plan, recruitment and training of personnel for 05 central hospitals and report to the Prime Minister before November 20, 2016; coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the Viet Nam Social Insurance for early implementation of the centralized drug procurement system to reduce the prices of medicines for the people. The Ministry of Health shall urgently submit to the Government in December 2016 a draft decree amending and supplementing Decree No. 38/2012/ND-CP dated April 25, 2012 of the Government detailing the implementation of some articles of the Law on Food Safety, and within its authority issue documents guiding requirements on the number of samples subject to random sample examination for goods imported as gifts, presents, and imported goods that are not of a commercial scale to meet the requirements to improve the business environment in the spirit of Resolution No. 19-2016/NQ-CP dated April 28, 2016 of the Government.

- The Ministry of Science and Technology shall develop specific solutions to direct the innovation and development of capacity and creativity in technology and intellectual property, avoid backlogs of application for registration of intellectual property protection and shorten application processing time; chair and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs to develop and apply the same mechanism as the autonomy mechanism of public service units for the Department of Intellectual Property; adjust fees and charges for industrial property services and reserved fee rate in order to create the most favorable conditions for the development of intellectual property to raise the country’s ranking to the leading position among ASEAN countries. For cases beyond its competence, the Ministry shall have to report to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

- The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism shall prepare to report to the Political Bureau of the Scheme on Viet Nam Tourism Development as a Spearhead Economic Sector; prepare innovative solutions to attract international tourists to Viet Nam in the coming years; support Central provinces to restore tourist activities; direct the organization of cultural, art, and sports in a healthy and thrifty manner; ensure the integration and harmony between traditional and modern art forms, preserve and promote the national cultural identity, especially during the the New Year 2017's celebration; eliminate waste and lengthy celebration of festivals on the occasion of the New Year.

- The Ministry of Justice shall strictly control the development of new draft laws and ordinances and ensure the necessity, effectiveness, availability of resources to for law development and deployment; improve the quality and efficiency of law communication and enforcement; review, monitor, supervise and inspect the the promulgation of circulars of ministries and ministerial-level agencies to terminate any delays. Ministries and ministerial-level agencies shall lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice to review, amend and supplement within their competence or propose competent authorities to amend and supplement legal regulations related to land, construction, housing, investment, and business which are causing problems and barriers in practice. The Ministry of Justice shall lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to aggregate, assess the review recommendations, and report to the Government.

- The Ministry of Home Affairs shall develop a draft Directive on payroll downsizing following the spirit of Resolution 39-NQ/TW of the Political Bureau and submit to the Prime Minister for issuance in November 2016; coordinate with ministries, agencies, and localities to study and develop a mechanism to assess the effectiveness of the work of administrative agencies.

- The Ministry of Information and Communications shall direct communication activities and strengthen adjustment and strict handling of false communication of information which causes social instability. Ministries, agencies and localities shall actively and timely provide information about direction, guidelines and policies of the Party and the State, solutions for direction and administration of the Government and the Prime Minister to contribute to create social concensus.

- The Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security shall closely follow up with developments of situation, firmly safeguard sovereignty, security and national defense. The Ministry of Public Security shall strengthen the direction of the implementation of measures to ensure political security, social order and safety, traffic safety, fire and explosion prevention, conduct a comprehensive review of safety conditions for fire prevention and fighting in discos and karaoke facilities, focusing firstly in large cities; continue to crack down crimes and social ills to preserve peaceful lives for the people, especially during the end of the year and Lunar New Year.

- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to implement outcomes of the the 7th Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy Summit (ACMECS-7), the 8th Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar- Viet Nam Summit (CLMV-8), and the World Economic Forum on Mekong (WEF-Mekong) and prepare well for the 9th Cambodia-Laos-Vet Nam (CLV) Summit.

- Cabinet members, according to their assigned tasks, shall fully prepare for answering questions raised before the National Assembly, especially questions on social issues of public concern.

- Ministries, agencies and localities, based on their functions and tasks, shall actively develop programs and action plans to perform their tasks in 2017 with the spirit of innovation, creativity and breakthrough. Ministries and agencies shall complete the development of programs and plans and report to the Prime Minister before January 10, 2017.

6. Regarding the report on the implementation of Resolution No. 60/NQ-CP dated July 8, 2016 of the Government on the tasks and key solutions to accelerate the implementation and disbursement of public investment plan in 2016

- The Ministry of Finance shall urgently report to the Prime Minister and concurrently to the Ministry of Planning and Investment before November 10, 2016 of the detailed disbursement of the central budget plan and Government bonds in 2016 until September 30, 2016; review, synthesize and report to the Prime Minister of the disbursement of foreign capital plan in 2016 of ministries, central agencies and localities.

- Ministries, central agencies and localities shall continue to closely monitor the disbursement progress in 2016 of projects, timely detect and address difficulties and obstacles, urge investors and contractors to accelerate the acceptance and settlement of projects which have been completed and handed over for use to completely settle the amount of work done, strictly implement the reporting regime on the implementation and disbursement of public investment plan in 2016 following the stipulated timelines, strengthen inspection and examination of the implementation of the investment plan, guarantee righteous, effective and thrifty use, avoid waste and ensure compliance with the Law on Public Investment.

- The ministries, agencies and localities that were assigned with additional funds in the plan in 2016 shall urgently implement and disburse the additional funds allocated to help promote growth./.

ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT

PRIME MINISTER

(Signed)

Nguyen Xuan Phuc