Decision No. 13/2006/NQ-CP of the Government at the regular meeting of the Government in June 2006

RESOLUTION

Regular Government Meeting in June 2006

From June 30 to July 1, 2006, the Government convened its regular monthly meeting in June to assess the economic and social situation and review the guidance and management of the Government for the first six months of the year; discuss tasks and work programs for the last six months of 2006.

1. In the past six months, the Government has focused on directing the implementation of the Work Program that was issued, institutionalizing and organizing the implementation of the Party's and State's policies across all fields of economic and social development, national defense and security, foreign relations, and administrative reform; continuing to improve the institutional framework for a socialist-oriented market economy, actively integrating into the international economy; intensifying efforts to mobilize investment capital for development, enhancing investment efficiency, preventing loss and waste in construction investment; promoting socialization in various areas of social work; at the same time, promptly and effectively responding to unfavorable fluctuations in market prices, natural disasters, and epidemics; continuing to implement the State Administrative Reform Program, anti-corruption measures, thrift, and prevention of waste.

The collective Government, the Prime Minister, and members of the Government have demonstrated high sense of responsibility and determination in guiding and managing operations, effectively addressing various fields of work; properly implementing Central Committee Resolutions, National Assembly Resolutions, and Government Resolutions, ensuring comprehensive, unified, and focused guidance and management, maintaining macroeconomic balances while effectively and promptly resolving emerging urgent issues. The coordination of work between the Government and Party agencies, the National Assembly, the Fatherland Front, and people's organizations has been maintained and increasingly become substantive, synchronized, and effective. With a concrete, thorough working style, decisive management, and enhanced inspection and supervision, the Government's guidance and management have achieved significant results.

The economy has maintained a relatively high growth rate (GDP estimated at 7.4%), industrial production value continues to grow at a high level. Despite many difficulties due to abnormal weather conditions and crop, poultry, and livestock diseases, agricultural production remains stable. Export turnover has achieved high growth rates. Service activities continue to develop. Social investment for development and foreign direct investment continue to increase. State budget revenue has performed well, state budget expenditure basically meets the requirements set. Monetary and credit activities remain stable. The Consumer Price Index for the first six months of 2006 increased by 4%, lower than the same period in 2005 and still within control (the same period in 2005 increased by 5.2%). Preparations for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and integrating into the international economy have progressed favorably. Some aspects of social activities have made progress: culture-information, education and training, science and technology have developed; environmental protection has shown positive changes; job creation, poverty reduction, and disease prevention and control have continued to be strengthened. National defense and security have been reinforced, political and social stability maintained.

2. However, the economic growth rate (GDP) in the first six months of the year is lower than the same period last year (7.6%) and lower than the planned target (8.0%). To achieve the annual growth target of 8%, the growth rate in the last six months must exceed 8.6%. Agricultural production faces many difficulties with low growth rates. Production costs in many industries remain high, weakening the competitiveness of many products. Domestic markets still contain factors causing price fluctuations, especially oil prices and key inputs for production and business. Economic growth is mainly broad-based and not sustainable, with low quality and competitiveness; there are many loopholes in the management mechanism for construction investment. Many social issues remain challenging, particularly job creation, meeting the demand for skilled labor in industrial zones, export processing zones, and labor export; improving working conditions; food safety; disease prevention and workplace accidents; crime and social evils and traffic accidents continue to evolve complexly. The resolution of citizens' complaints and grievances in some places remains pressing.

The completion of projects under the Work Program for the first six months has been low, with poor quality in many preparatory projects. Institutional building is still very slow, with a large backlog of guiding documents for laws and ordinances that have come into effect, and some documents contain conflicting and inappropriate provisions that have not been addressed promptly.

3. Alongside fundamental advantages, the challenges for the last six months are significant, requiring intense efforts from all levels, sectors, and businesses of all economic components. Therefore, the main task in the Government's guidance and management for the last six months is to continue effectively implementing major tasks and solutions outlined in the National Assembly Resolution and Resolution No. 01/2006/NQ-CP of the Government, while leveraging achievements in the Government's guidance and management in the first six months, effectively organizing the implementation of tasks and solutions in various fields of economic and social development, national defense and security, foreign relations, and administrative reform, specifically:

3.1. Intensify the development of production and business, enhance the economic growth rate. Promptly issue comprehensive and synchronized guiding documents and effectively implement the Enterprise Law and Investment Law to promote the robust development of various types of enterprises. Continue to review and immediately eliminate regulations that are unsuitable and hinder investment and production and business activities, especially "subordinate permits."

Promote the process of state-owned enterprise reform. Focus on resolving difficulties for businesses, especially non-state-owned enterprises to promote development. Timely address issues and recommendations from businesses. Emphasize vocational training activities, compliance with labor laws, ensuring safety and hygiene at workplaces in enterprises. Implement necessary measures to boost agricultural, forestry, and aquaculture production.

Strengthen measures to prevent and control diseases in agricultural production, particularly foot-and-mouth disease in livestock, proactively prevent the recurrence of avian influenza, while continuing to encourage a shift towards concentrated animal husbandry, restoring livestock populations after outbreaks.

Proactively forecast and prevent natural disasters, minimizing losses caused by natural disasters to production and people's lives. Review plans for dike protection, reservoir maintenance, and riverbank structures; reinforce weak dikes, especially the Red River dike system, coastal dikes in the northern region, and central north region.

Enact appropriate mechanisms and policies to promote the diversity and leverage the strengths of service industries, particularly financial services, insurance, credit, tourism, and transportation, to create new developments, improve the quality of service products, and enhance competitiveness in both domestic and international markets.

3.2. Focus on directing efforts to boost exports, especially for products with competitive advantages and established markets. Improve trade promotion work, expand traditional markets; simultaneously, seek new export markets. Enhance market trend forecasting, particularly in major markets.

Relevant ministries and agencies should intensify information provision and trade promotion support for businesses. Issue and widely disseminate bilateral agreements signed with the United States and other countries, clearly outlining benefits and challenges arising from WTO accession to enable businesses to proactively exploit favorable conditions for production and exports, and formulate solutions to mitigate negative impacts of economic integration. Promote standardization and mutual recognition of technical standards, food safety, and quarantine systems between Vietnam and foreign trading partners, especially major ones like the EU, US, Japan...

3.3. Accelerate investment development and improve investment efficiency is a decisive factor for growth rate. Organize the rapid disbursement of state budget investment funds, ODA, state credit, government bonds, and educational bonds. Promptly resolve any issues causing bottlenecks and hindrances to investment activities, both in terms of mechanisms, policies, and mindset.

Enhance decentralization in issuing licenses and managing direct foreign investment. Simplify, publicize, and clarify administrative procedures in investment, particularly those related to land, construction, customs, and taxes, to achieve the goal of reducing investment costs, enhancing the competitiveness of the investment environment, thereby taking advantage of international opportunities to attract a new wave of foreign investment into Vietnam after joining the WTO. Promote innovation in investment management; supplement and perfect mechanisms and policies, harmonize guiding documents for investment laws and decrees. Reorganize project management boards; complete and issue regulations on the organization and operation of ODA project management boards in a practical, effective, and streamlined manner; develop and implement a roadmap to combat closed practices in investment and construction; strengthen supervision and inspection of construction quality, particularly focusing on infrastructure projects to effectively curb corruption and waste, and improve project quality. Clearly define the responsibilities of design consultants, construction supervisors, and contractors when participating in construction projects.

3.4. Actively and proactively prepare for WTO accession and effectively implement international commitments. Review and improve mechanisms and policies to ensure equal and unified business environments for all types of enterprises, without distinction between domestic and foreign enterprises. Continue implementing tax reduction schedules, study mechanisms and policies to reasonably support domestic production within the framework of international commitments; develop proposals to enhance competitiveness, seize opportunities, and overcome challenges upon becoming a WTO member. Successfully organize the APEC Summit and welcome visits by APEC leaders to Vietnam, thereby enhancing the country's position in the region and internationally, and promoting bilateral cooperation with major partners in APEC.

3.5. Maintain macroeconomic balances in the economy, manage domestic markets to ensure market stability, control inflation below the GDP growth rate; avoid shortages and price hikes; strengthen market management, strictly handle and severely punish the exploitation of global price fluctuations to unreasonably increase product prices, limit the chain effects of fuel price increases.

Organize the distribution network well, link distributors with manufacturers and large distributors to ensure price control. At the same time, implement measures to save and reduce material and raw material consumption costs. Closely monitor pricing and cost expenses for monopoly and quasi-monopoly products, especially important materials and raw materials.

Ensure coordination between fiscal policy and monetary policy to maintain macroeconomic balances. Implement flexible and prudent monetary policy; strengthen the use of monetary policy tools to serve economic growth and curb inflation. Balance exchange rates, interest rates, and foreign currency reserves; ensure sufficient foreign currency supply for importing key materials and raw materials, especially oil, steel, and some other essential materials and chemicals.

Implement measures to combat smuggling, commercial fraud, counterfeit goods, tax evasion, and other revenue losses to the state budget. Strictly control state budget expenditures, address overspending, advance payments, borrowing for spending without a source of repayment, especially in infrastructure construction.

3.6. Effectively resolve pressing social issues: Strengthen disease prevention, particularly summer diseases and newly emerging diseases. Successfully implement educational reform contents, resolutely overcome negative phenomena in this field; organize university, college, and vocational high school admissions exams well; effectively implement the program to reinforce school buildings and classrooms; improve the quality of teachers and education management staff; complete the vocational training system linked to the labor market and entrepreneurship of young people, gradually meeting the demand for highly skilled labor for industrial zones, export processing zones, and labor export; intensify poverty reduction efforts, especially for ethnic minorities, mountainous areas, remote regions; issue mechanisms and policies to support the poor in striving to escape poverty sustainably. Continue to control and limit strikes in enterprises and industrial zones; strengthen measures to curb traffic accidents and congestion, restore order and traffic safety; be resolute in preventing and combating social crimes and vices.

3.7. Continue implementing the administrative reform program; practice thrift and combat waste; strengthen anti-corruption efforts, which are urgent requirements. Ministries, sectors, and localities carry out specific activities under the Action Program to implement the Law on Anti-Corruption and the Law on Thrift and Combating Waste with effective preventive mechanisms, strict and transparent handling, creating changes in awareness and action at all levels, sectors, and throughout society.

The Government affirms its determination to fight corruption, waste, and negativity, first and foremost in land management, basic construction investment, state capital and asset management, and state-owned enterprise management. Heads of agencies and units from central to local levels must bear full responsibility for organizing anti-corruption efforts, practicing thrift, and combating waste, as well as supervising and inspecting civil servants' performance of their duties. The Ministry of Public Security must urgently complete investigations of corruption cases causing public outrage and bring them to trial according to the law. Ministries, sectors, and localities must have specific plans to improve recruitment, utilization, training, and development of civil servants; strictly and promptly handle officials and civil servants who abuse their positions and powers to harass the public and businesses, and exclude corrupt and degenerate officials and civil servants from the system.

In the last six months of the year, conduct a comprehensive review and evaluation of the establishment, organization, and operation of advisory and inter-sectoral coordination organizations; propose fundamental restructuring plans for these organizations, especially those led by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Ministers, firmly implementing the principle of streamlining, effectiveness, and practicality; only maintain organizations that are truly necessary to assist the Prime Minister in focusing on researching, directing, and coordinating to solve major, important, and inter-sectoral issues beyond the authority of ministers. Following the same principle, each ministry, sector, and locality must also urgently review and reorganize existing inter-sectoral organizations. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and centrally-administered cities and provinces must prioritize administrative reform tasks linked to anti-corruption, thrift, and waste reduction among their key tasks in their leadership and management work.

3.8. Create significant changes in legislative work and the method of government and state administrative agency management. Urgently promulgate the Action Program to implement the Resolution of the 10th National Party Congress and the National Assembly's Resolution on the five-year plan for 2006-2010. Accelerate the progress of research, drafting, reviewing, and examining; enhance cooperation between ministries and agencies in developing legal documents. By the end of the year, fundamentally address the backlog of regulatory documents guiding the implementation of laws and ordinances.

Study and submit to the National Assembly for amending the Law on the Organization of the Government, adding new practical legal provisions on the innovation of methods and contents of government management; realistically redefine the scope of state administration that the Government must undertake to meet the requirements and tasks of the new situation such as joining the WTO, promoting socialization, and restructuring state-owned enterprises...; gradually reorganize the Government machinery and administrative system towards slimming down, clearly defining functions, responsibilities, authorities, and operating effectively and efficiently. Improve working styles and management methods in accordance with established work regulations; enhance meeting quality, reduce administrative paperwork. Ministries with leadership changes must urgently hand over and stabilize organizational structures, ensuring continuous task implementation; heads of state administrative agencies should reduce兼任职职位，减少不必要的仪式活动，集中时间指挥和检查重点工作；及时发现并解决阻碍计划实施的困难和障碍；努力完成2006年任务计划。