Decision No. 10/2005/NQ-CP of the Government's regular meeting in August 2005

 RESOLUTION

Regular Meeting of the Government in August 2005

On August 30 and 31, 2005, the Government convened its regular meeting for August to discuss and adopt the following issues:

1. The Government discussed the draft Program on Law and Ordinance Construction of the Government in 2006 presented by the Minister of Justice.

In recent years, the work of drafting and promulgating legal documents such as laws and ordinances has made progress. The Government and ministries have made significant efforts in directing, inspecting, urging the drafting of draft laws and ordinances to be submitted to the National Assembly and the Standing Committee of the National Assembly for consideration and promulgation, timely enacting policies of the Party and State regarding the construction of a rule-of-law state and a socialist-oriented market economy, ensuring citizens' freedom and democracy; responding to the requirements of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and international economic integration. Most guiding documents for implementing laws and ordinances were issued promptly and of high quality.

However, the quality of some draft laws and ordinances remains low; coordination among government agencies during the process of drafting laws and ordinances is still weak; many guiding documents for implementing laws and ordinances within the Government's authority have not been issued promptly. Therefore, it is necessary to urgently inspect, urge, and innovate the procedures for drafting legal normative documents; select the urgent issues required by life, clearly define the guiding ideology, concentrate the wisdom of experts and seek the opinions of the subjects implementing the documents during the drafting process. Members of the Government must personally direct and directly bear responsibility during the drafting process of draft laws and ordinances and guiding documents.

The Ministry of Justice is assigned to lead, coordinate with the Government Office and the Prime Minister's Research Board to incorporate the opinions from the meeting to complete the Program on Law and Ordinance Construction of the Government in 2006, submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision to be submitted to the National Assembly.

2. The Government heard the Minister of Population, Family and Children present the draft Action Program of the Government to implement Resolution No. 47/NQ-TW dated March 22, 2005 of the Politburo on further promoting population policy and family planning.

The Action Program of the Government to implement the Politburo's Resolution demonstrates specific division of responsibilities and synchronized coordination among government agencies, People's Committees at all levels, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and people's organizations in implementing population and family planning policies. The key solutions to focus on in the near future include: intensifying propaganda, mobilization, and education to encourage the public to voluntarily implement population and family planning policies; consolidating organizational structures for population, family, and children's work at all levels; expanding and improving the quality of family planning services and reproductive health care; perfecting the legal system and policies to promote nationwide population and family planning activities. Implementing the policy that each couple should have only one or two children.

The Population, Family and Children Commission is assigned to lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Government Office, and related agencies, to incorporate the opinions from the meeting; clarify the issue of implementing the regime for population, family, and children officials at the commune level, complete the draft Action Program, and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and issuance.

3. The Government heard the Minister of Justice present the draft projects: Real Estate Registration Law; Lawyer Law; Enforcement Code; and the Government Office's report summarizing the opinions of Government members on these draft laws.

- Regarding the draft Real Estate Registration Law, the Government determined the goal of this law is to ensure legitimate rights and conveniences for citizens in real estate registration and transactions. Therefore, there needs to be a unified provision regarding a single management agency and a certificate clearly reflecting all rights concerning the use, ownership, and disposal of real estate.

The Ministry of Justice is assigned to lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Construction, and related agencies, to incorporate the opinions from the meeting, continue organizing research, clarify related issues, choose appropriate solutions to different opinions to complete the draft law, and resubmit it to the Government for consideration.

- The Government agreed to pass the draft Lawyer Law. The Ministry of Justice is assigned to lead, coordinate with the Government Office and related agencies, to incorporate the opinions from the meeting, complete the draft law; the Minister of Justice is authorized to submit this draft law to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

- Regarding the draft Enforcement Code, the Government noted that the current enforcement work faces many difficulties and obstacles both in organization and procedure; enforcement activities are managed by various agencies with different functions; implementation lacks concentration and unity. In practice, coordination between agencies is problematic and overlapping; many enforcement procedures are no longer suitable for reality and lack feasibility, requiring revision and supplementation. Therefore, the goal of drafting the Enforcement Code is to unify enforcement procedures, ensure court judgments and decisions are enforced according to the law, protect the interests of the State and society, and the legitimate rights and interests of citizens, enhance the effectiveness of crime prevention and control, maintain political security and social order, align with judicial reform and international economic integration; unify civil and criminal enforcement provisions into a comprehensive enforcement law. Provisions regarding the organizational structure of enforcement agencies fall under the Government's authority and will not be specifically detailed in the law.

The Ministry of Justice shall take the lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and relevant agencies to incorporate opinions from the meeting, finalize the draft Enforcement Code; clarify issues regarding the organizational model for enforcement; implementation timeline and specific steps from now until 2010, and submit to the Prime Minister for decision on presenting to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

4. The Government discussed the draft Ordinance on Procedures for Resolving Strikes submitted by the Minister of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs.

The current situation of labor disputes and strikes shows that most strikes involve demands for ensuring rights related to wages, bonuses, working hours, rest time, social insurance, and labor contracts. Most strikes are spontaneous and have not followed the prescribed procedures under the law on resolving collective labor disputes, causing losses to the interests of enterprises and workers, and negatively impacting the investment environment.

The principle of drafting laws on procedures for resolving strikes must be consistent with the provisions of the Labor Code, Trade Union Law, and related legal documents; establish a legal basis to ensure that strikes comply with the law; clearly define the rights, obligations, and legal responsibilities of trade unions, employers, grassroots trade union organizations, and enhance awareness and responsibility among all parties in complying with labor laws.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs shall take the lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Justice, the Government Office, and relevant agencies, incorporate opinions from the meeting, continue to study and clearly determine the guiding ideology, content, and form of regulatory legal documents to address the issue, resubmit for the Government's consideration.

5. The Government heard the Head of the Central Commendation and Reward Board report on the proposal for drafting and promulgating the Government Decree guiding the Implementation of the Law on Commendation and Reward.

The Government agreed that the issuance of the Decree guiding the Implementation of the Law on Commendation and Reward must be based on the principle of organizing and directing the commendation movement in conjunction with reward work; clearly define positions and standardize reward criteria, with a rigorous and accurate review process. Commendation and reward work must target the right subjects, recognize actual achievements, focus on grassroots levels, emphasize rewarding grassroots collectives and individual workers; ensure balanced rewards between collectives and individuals in Party, State agencies, Vietnam Fatherland Front, and mass organizations to make commendation and reward a driving force for national development in the new era.

The Central Commendation and Reward Board shall take the lead, coordinate with the Government Office and relevant agencies, incorporate opinions from Government members and attending delegates, further clarify issues raised at the meeting, urgently complete the draft Decree, and submit to the Prime Minister for examination and issuance.

6. The Government heard the Minister and Chairman of the Ethnic Minority Commission present the draft Program for Socio-Economic Development of Particularly Difficult Communes in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the 2006-2010 period (Program 135 Phase II).

The Government assessed that Program 135 for the 1998-2005 period achieved important goals in socio-economic development, significantly changing the rural face of mountainous areas, improving infrastructure, and enhancing the material and spiritual lives of the people. However, compared to the set targets, the results still had shortcomings, with high poverty rates and significant disparities between regions and ethnic groups.

The Program to support economic and social development in particularly difficult communes of ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions for the period 2006-2010 aims to achieve the following objectives: supporting production development and structural transformation of the economy, developing essential infrastructure, training and enhancing cadres at the grassroots level; improving community capacity; providing services and improving the living standards of people in particularly difficult communes of ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions.

The National Ethnic Committee shall take the lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Government Office, and relevant agencies to incorporate opinions from the meeting session, finalize the Program, and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval.

7. The Government heard the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs present the draft Target Program on Poverty Reduction for the period 2006-2010.

The Government assesses that significant achievements have been made in eradicating poverty during the past period. However, the rate of poverty reduction is uneven across different regions; the proportion of poor households in mountainous areas and among ethnic minorities remains very high. The Target Program on Poverty Reduction for the period 2006-2010 needs to focus on implementing preferential credit policies for poor households; providing land for production to poor households of ethnic minorities; supporting health care, education, housing, and clean water for the poor; promoting agriculture, forestry, and fisheries for the poor; developing essential infrastructure for particularly difficult communes in coastal and island areas; vocational training for the poor... with the goal of reducing the proportion of poor households to 15% by 2010.

The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs shall take the lead, coordinate with the National Ethnic Committee, the Government Office, and relevant agencies, incorporate opinions from the meeting session, finalize the draft Target Program on Poverty Reduction for the period 2006-2010, and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval.

During the implementation of this program along with the Program for economic and social development in particularly difficult communes of ethnic minority areas and mountainous regions for the period 2006-2010, they will be under the centralized and unified direction of a Steering Board established by the Government.

8. The Government reviewed the Reports on the monthly production, import-export, and investment situation in August and the socio-economic situation in the first eight months of 2005 presented by the Minister of Planning and Investment; the Report on the domestic market situation, import-export in August and forecast for September 2005 presented by the Minister of Trade.

The socio-economic situation in August and the first eight months continued to develop positively. Industrial production maintained a high growth rate; agriculture was stable, and there were many advancements in service sectors; exports grew strongly, import surplus showed a declining trend; state budget revenue reached a high level, meeting expenditure requirements; social sectors developed in a positive direction; traffic accidents decreased gradually.

However, difficulties in the last four months of the year remain significant, especially the increase in fuel prices which exerts pressure on other commodity prices, making the situation unpredictable and having a large impact on production and people's livelihoods; new difficulties are emerging in the export sector; natural disasters are complex; some social issues remain pressing.

To implement Resolution No. 01/2005 and regular Government Resolutions, particularly Directive No. 999/TTg-KTTH dated July 20, 2005 of the Prime Minister, to achieve an economic growth rate of 8.5% and successfully fulfill the annual plan in 2005, the Government requests all ministries, sectors, and localities to concentrate efforts on promoting production development, reducing production costs, encouraging and creating favorable conditions for businesses of all economic components to invest in production and business development, accelerating exports; controlling the pace of price increases in the last months of the year; strengthening disease prevention (especially avian influenza), flood and storm prevention; preparing well for the start of the new school year. The Ministry of Finance continues to implement government bond issuance to ensure capital for development investment, including issuing bonds abroad according to the guidelines of the Government and the Prime Minister./.