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The Government’s regular meeting – December 2014

January 07, 2015 5:15 PM GMT+7

GOVERNMENT     

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No.  101/NQ - CP

SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM

Independence - Freedom - Happiness

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                                   Ha Noi, December 31 , 2014



RESOLUTION

The Government’s regular meeting – December 2014

GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Government’s Decree 08/2012/ND-CP, dated February 16, 2012 promulgating the Working regulation of the Government;

Based on the discussions among the Cabinet members and the conclusion of the Prime Minister at the Government’s regular meeting held on December 29-30, 2014.

RESOLVES:

1. Regarding the review of the Government’s performance in 2014 and deployment of tasks set for 2015

The Government unanimously agreed that its performance in 2014 is of significant importance for the realization of socio-economic development goals and tasks set for 2015 as well as for the whole tenure of 2011-2015. Apart from directing the realization of targeted socio-economic tasks, the Government focused on carrying out long-term tasks, especially economic restructuring, strategic breakthroughs while devoting a great deal of time and resources to resolutely defend sea and island sovereignty, ensure peace and stability for national socio-economic development.

In performing its duties, the Government always complied with the Constitution and law; strictly implemented the Resolutions and Conclusions issued by the Party Central Committee and the National Assembly; coordinated closely with organs of the Party, the National Assembly, the Viet Nam Fatherland Front, and mass organizations; seriously abided by its Working regulation and the principle of centralized democracy, upheld the collective role while giving prominence to the responsibilities of each Cabinet member before the Party, National Assembly, Government and people.

In organizing the implementation of socio-economic development tasks, the Government regularly reviewed and evaluated the progress, held on to the preset goals and simultaneously being flexible and drastic in performing duties and ensuring the balance of short-term and long-term goals; actively renovated working methods in according with the real circumstances; upheld disciplines and rules; gave prominence to forecast work; attached importance to social comments; enhanced contacts and dialogues, timely removed obstacles through appropriate policies which were highly appreciated by the public and gained their trust in the Government’s efforts in realizing socio-economic goals and national sovereignty defense.

Under the leadership of the Party and the combined efforts of the whole political system, the business communities and people, socio-economic situation in 2014 witnessed positive changes with almost all the major indexes reaching or surpassing the set targets. The GDP was estimated at 5.98%, which is higher than that of the two previous years as well as the projected rate. Macro-economy was stable. Inflation was put under control, consumer price index increased slightly. Interest rates fell. Credit growth target was fulfilled; exchange rate and foreign currency market were stable; foreign reserve rose sharply to a record high. Exports maintained high growth pace, posting a trade surplus for the three consecutive years, partly thanks to the strong recovery among local businesses. Trade balance, current account, and international payment balance continued to gain surplus. Industrial production, particularly processing and manufacturing sectors, and agricultural production grew fairly high. Total retail sales of goods and services climbed up. The volume of foreign direct investment inflow and disbursed official development assistance was encouraging. State budget revenue surpassed the preset target. Public debt, Government debt, foreign debt remained below the safety limits. Social welfare and social security were guaranteed; people’s life has been improved. Positive outcomes have been gained in restructuring the economy, transforming growth model; the efficiency, productivity, competitiveness and business environment have been gradually ameliorated. Administrative reform, especially administrative procedures was accelerated. The settlement of complaints and denunciations, anti-corruption, thrift practice, and anti-wastefulness were fostered. National sovereignty was maintained and political security and social security and order were ensured. Progress was made in ensuring traffic order and safety. Diplomatic activities and international economic integration were actively deployed in order to take advantage of external resources for national socio-economic development, contributing to maintain peace, stability and defending sovereignty, territorial integrity, rights and interests of the nation as well as legitimate interests of citizens and overseas Vietnamese.

However, there remained shortcomings, including high public debt and improper budget spending structure. A proportion of people in remote, ethnic minority and disaster-hit areas still faced numerous difficulties, poverty reduction outcomes were not really sustainable in various places. Fires and explosions, crimes, and social evils were complicated. Administrative disciplines and rules, including those relevant to inspection, monitoring and violation handling were not serious enough; coordination in performing public duties was not close and synchronous; a number of cadres and civil servants showed poor sense of responsibility; the forecast and analysis capacity failed to meet the real requirements; mechanisms and policies were sometimes not drastically enforced in some places; opportunities generating from international trade agreements were not fully exploited, etc, requiring more efforts in overcoming these shortcomings in the time to come.

The Government Office shall collect comments of the Cabinet members and participants to the Conference between the Government and localities, then finalize a Report on performance review in 2014 and the Government’s Working program for 2015 to provide the basis for ministries, agencies and localities to implement.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, Government Inspectorate shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to collect comments from the Cabinet members and the participants to the Conference between the Government and localities, then finalize and issue reports on administrative reform, inspection and settlement of complaints and denunciations, anti-corruption, anti-wastefulness in 2014; focus on organizing the implementation of the tasks on administrative reform, inspection and settlement of complaints and denunciation, anti-corruption and anti-wastefulness for substantive changes in 2015.

Ministries, agencies and People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-governed cities, based on their functions and obligations, shall organize the review and quickly overcome their performance shortcomings and weaknesses in association with the deployment of socio-economic development tasks set for 2015; determine to lower traffic accidents in all three criteria by 5-10% annually in each province and city; step up the fight against smuggling, trade fraud, counterfeit goods, especially in economic hubs and border provinces.

The Government Office shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and relevant agencies to collect comments from the Cabinet members and from the participants at the Conference between the Government and localities, then finalize and submit to the Prime Minster a draft Resolution on major tasks and solutions guiding the implementation of the Plan for socio-economic development and State budget estimate in 2015, for approval.

The year 2015 is the last year for the realization of the socio-economic development plan for the 2011-2015 period, the Government tasks Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies and Government bodies, Chairpersons of provinces and centrally-governed cities to continue promoting the achieved outcomes, overcome shortcomings and weaknesses; take advantage of opportunities, surmount difficulties and challenges, actively follow the Resolutions adopted by the Party Central Committee, the National Assembly and the Government; promptly design, promulgate and deploy specific action programs/plans; drastically and comprehensively perform their duties through concrete measures to realize the  Government’s Resolution on major tasks and solutions guiding the implementation of the Plan for socio-economic development and State budget in 2015 right from the beginning of the year with the highest responsibilities, striving to fulfill socio-economic goals set for 2015 as well as goals for the five-year period of 2011-2015.

2. Regarding the implementation of the Government’s Program on law and ordinance building; the development and promulgation of legal documents guiding the implementation of laws and ordinances in 2014.

a) Regarding the Government’s Program on law and ordinance building in 2014

This year, institutional building is one of the top tasks, a step forward to the concretization of the 2013 Constitution. The study, compilation, and submission of draft laws and ordinances regarding State apparatus organization, economic restructuring, and business environment improvement under the Program on law and ordinance building for 2014 basically kept up with the set targets and orientations. The verification continued to be renovated and attracted the involvement of experts and scientists during the process of composing and finalizing draft laws and ordinances, contributing to the improvement of the quality of legal documents.

However, some of the bills were behind the schedule; the correction, edition and finalization of some laws and ordinances were slowly carried out, thus failing to meet the progress required by the National Assembly and its Standing Committee; there remained a lack of close coordination in studying and composing draft laws and ordinances.

The Government tasks Ministers, heads of Ministerial-level agencies to continue paying due care  to and allocating adequate resources for study and compilation process to ensure the quality and feasibility of the draft laws and ordinances included in the Program for law and ordinance building for 2015. Particularly, they need to design reports on the compilation of the draft Laws on Demonstration and Information Access, then submit them to the Government for consideration and specific decisions; quickly finalize the dossiers of the draft laws and ordinances included in the Program on law and ordinance building for 2016 and send them to the Ministry of Justice before January 7, 2015 for summary and report to the Government for comments at its regular meeting in January 2015.

b) Regarding the building and promulgation of legal documents on detailed implementation of laws and ordinances in 2014

The building and promulgation of legal documents guiding the implementation of laws and ordinances in 2014 made clear progress. The slow promulgation of legal documents under the competence of the Government and the Prime Minister has basically overcome. By the end of the year, only six documents fell behind the schedule, the record low figure in ten years. However, there were a lot of guiding documents which have been slowly introduced as required by laws and ordinances.

As the task of building and promulgating guiding documents in 2015 is hard, the Government asks Ministers, heads of Ministerial-level agencies to seriously implement the solutions on ensuring the quality of legal documents and on overcoming the slow promulgation that were figured out by the National Assembly, the Government and the Prime Minister; directly monitor and speed up the promulgation process and clearly define the responsibilities of each unit and individual in studying and compiling legal documents guiding the implementation of laws and ordinances under the competence of their ministries and agencies; continue consolidating their apparatus and improving the capacity of cadres working for legislation departments.

3. Regarding the collection of the public’s comments on the draft amendments to the Civil Code

The Government agreed with the Ministry of Justice’s proposal to issue a Plan for collecting the public’s comments on the draft amendments to the Civil Code in order to promote the mastership right and mobilize brainpower of the public for the revision of the law in order to ensure the citizens' rights in accordance with the 2013 Constitution. The Plan must be carried out broadly, democratically, scientifically in an economical and practical manner; comments must be collected fully, precisely, objectively, and honestly and studied for serious acquisition to finalize the bill.

4. Regarding the implementation of the Resolution 19/NQ-CP dated March 18 2014 of the Government regarding the major tasks and solutions for improving business environment and national competitiveness

The Government agreed: Under the sound, drastic and timely direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, many ministries, agencies and localities proactively and fruitfully deployed the majorities of tasks and solutions enshrined in the Resolution, which helped gradually improve Viet Nam’s business environment and competitiveness. However, some ministries, agencies and localities have not done well.

In order to continue the drastic implementation of the Resolution so that by the end of 2015, Viet Nam’s business environment index will reach at least the average level of ASEAN-6 countries, ministries, agencies and localities shall have to further consolidate and maintain the sustainability of the achieved indexes on tax payment, social premium payment, business start-up, protection of investors and electricity access; focus on reforming institutions to improve institutional index and publicize other indexes on administrative reform; focus on reforming indexes on grant of construction certificates, property ownership right, credit access, contract implementation, and handling of insolvent enterprises.

The National Council for Sustainable Development and Competitiveness Improvement shall coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to promptly submit to the Government for approval of a Resolution on continued improvement of business environment and competitiveness, in February 2015. Based on the Resolution, ministries and agencies shall review and amend administrative procedures by issuing Circulars, Inter-agency Circulars or report matters beyond their competence to the Government and the Prime Minister for consideration and settlement; regularly check and speed up the implementation process for positive changes. Ministers, Chairpersons of the provincial and municipal People’s Committees shall have to seriously implement the Resolution 19, considering it as one of their key tasks in 2015 and the following years.

5. Regarding the performance of State-owned enterprises (SOEs), restructuring of SOEs in 2014 and tasks for 2015

Against the hard socio-economic backdrop, SOEs made tremendous efforts in realizing their assignments, corporate efficiency and competitiveness, particularly groups and corporations, were maintained, State capital was ensured and increased, contributing to the overall macro-economic stability and economic growth. However, many SOEs slowly renovated, failed to keep up with market demand and integration trend and not effectively managed allocated resources, leading to low efficiency and competitiveness.

To enhance supervision and control of State capital use and management, overcome and correct the scattered investments, and ensure openness and transparency, the Government asks ministries and agencies, within their assigned competence, to develop and submit to the Government and the Prime Minister for promulgation of legal documents on detailed implementation of relevant laws approved at the 8th session of the 13th National Assembly. SOEs shall need to drastically realize their restructuring plans ratified by competent agencies; regularly review, inspect and supervise the reduction of costs and commodity prices so as to increase profits.

In 2014, SOEs restructuring witnessed positive progress. Mechanisms and policies on renovating apparatus, operational organization, administration, re-arrangement and equitization were promulgated relatively comprehensively, creating favorable legal framework for the operation of the SOEs. The number of SOEs which were re-arranged, equitized or divested State capital from non-core business lines was higher compared to that in 2013, laying an important foundation for the completion of the SOE rearrangement and equitization plan for the 2014-2015 period. However, some mechanisms and policies were not timely amended and issued. The number of SOEs which were equitized or divested capital from non-core business lines failed to fulfill the set targets. Some ministries, localities, corporations and groups did not drastically enforce their approved equitization and divestment plans.

To continue beefing up SOEs restructuring for the fulfillment of the equitization and divestment plan by the end of 2015, the Government asks ministries, agencies, localities, economic groups and corporations to redouble efforts in order to realize the set targets, especially those relating to equitization and State capital divestment. On the basis of criteria and list for classification of SOEs, they shall review and add more SOEs to the list of SOEs for post-2015 equitization and capital divestment, then submit the list to the Prime Minister for approval.

Ministries, People’s Committees of provinces and centrally-governed cities, economic groups and corporations having affiliated agricultural companies shall ask these companies to review their functions and tasks, then develop overall re-arrangement plans and report to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for verification and submit them to the Prime Minister for approval.

The Ministry of Finance shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Steering Committee for Enterprise Innovation and Development and relevant agencies to make comprehensive evaluation of SOEs restructuring during the 2011-2015, in the last quarter of 2015.

6. Regarding the conversion of public non-business units into joint-stock companies

The Government agreed on the expansion of the scope of transforming public non-business units, which satisfy conditions required by laws, into joint-stock companies but particular features and proper forms need to be taken into account for healthcare, education and training units.  More preferential policies shall be adopted to support highly professional experts who can master scientific themes and own patents being applied in the transformed public non-business units. Specific regulations shall be adopted to evaluate the corporate values, excluding the trademark value and development potential in order to encourage the transformation of public non-business units into joint-stock companies.

The Ministry of Finance shall be assigned to take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Government Office and relevant agencies to collect the Cabinet members’ comments on the draft Decision of the Prime Minister on the conversion of public non-business units into joint-stock companies, then submit it to the Prime Minister for issuance in the first quarter of 2015.

7. Regarding the proposal of incorporating the criteria for poverty reduction, employment and trained labor force in the five-year and yearly socio-economic development plans for the 2016-2020 period

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall be assigned to take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Labor-Invalids and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Finance to study and discuss the use of the aforesaid criteria with the relevant Committees of the National Assembly.

At first, the criteria on the poverty reduction rate (excluding annual inflation from the poverty line); unemployment rate, trained labor force, including laborers with diploma and certificates as regulated by laws, shall continue to be applied.

8. Regarding the draft Decree on adjustment of retirement pension, social insurance allowances and annual allowances for retired commune-level cadres

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Government Office and relevant agencies to collect the Cabinet members’ comments on and finalize the draft Decree, then submit it to the Prime Minister for issuance.

9. Regarding the operation of forensic psychiatric examination organizations

The Government agreed that forensic psychiatric examination organizations at local level, which were established and operate in line with the Ordinance on judicial assessment, shall be allowed to continue forensic examination through the end of June 2015.

The Ministry of Health shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Home Affairs, localities and relevant agencies to quickly set up regional Centers for forensic psychiatric examination in accordance with the Law on Judicial Assessment.

10. Regarding the draft Law on temporary custody and detention

The Ministry of Public Security shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice, Government Office and relevant agencies to collect the Cabinet members’ comments on and finalize the draft Law. The Minister of Public Security, assigned by the Prime Minister and on behalf of the Government, will submit the bill to the National Assembly.

11. Regarding the draft Law on organization of criminal investigation agencies

The Ministry of Public Security shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice, Government Office and relevant agencies to collect the Cabinet members’ comments on and finalize the bill, then report to the Prime Minister before submitting to the National Assembly.

12. Regarding the bill to amend and supplement some articles of the Maritime Code

The Ministry of Transport shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Justice, Government Office and relevant agencies to collect the Cabinet members’ comments on and correct, edit and finalize the bill. The Minister of Transport, assigned by the Prime Minister and on behalf of the Government, will submit the bill to the National Assembly.

13. Regarding the implementation of Decree 36/2014/ND-CP dated April 29, 2014 on tra fist cultivation, processing and export

The Government agreed not to implement points b and c of Clause 3, Article 6 of the Decree 36/2014/ND-Cp dated on April 29, 2014 by the end of December 31, 2015. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall take prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Industry and Trade to inspect and provide relevant instructions for enterprises, and report emerging obstacles to the Prime Minister for settlement in order to gradually improve the quality and value of the country’s tra fish products on the international and local markets./.

ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT
PRIME MINISTER
(Signed)
 

 

Nguyen Tan Dung