Directive No. 84/TTg on rectifying the organization and management of production and business in the cooperative economy sector (small-scale, handicrafts; transportation; construction; trade and services).

DIRECTIVE

OF THE PRIME MINISTER

On Rectifying the Organization and Management of Production and Business in the Cooperative Economic Sector (Small-scale and Handicraft Industries; Transportation; Construction; Commerce and Services)

To implement the policy on economic development and the establishment of a multi-sector commodity economy as directed by the Party and State, over the past years, the State has issued specific policies and directives concerning the cooperative economic sector of small-scale and handicraft industries; transportation; construction; commerce and services (hereinafter referred to as cooperatives).

By now, some sectors and many localities have established regulations, directives, and measures to guide the implementation of reforming cooperatives. Many cooperatives have reformed their organization and management methods to suit the new management mechanism, achieving effective production and business operations. Cooperatives that were unable to continue operating have shifted to other organizational forms or dissolved, and several new cooperative models suitable for the needs of workers, individual households, and family businesses have been formed and are continuing to develop.

However, many Ministries, Sectors, and some localities have not fully grasped the policy on reforming the cooperative economic sector, failing to adequately recognize the role and position of the cooperative economy within the multi-sector economy. Many cooperatives are facing difficulties, unable to determine their production and business methods, still maintaining the old cooperative model under the previous management mechanism. Some cooperatives that are no longer operational have not taken proactive steps and appropriate measures to stabilize production and business activities, reform their organization, and adjust their operational methods, etc. Meanwhile, new cooperative economic models have not been guided, summarized, and lessons learned to shape them, etc.

To address the above situation and meet the requirements of the new management mechanism, the Prime Minister issues the following directive:

1. All sectors and levels must pay due attention to leading and directing the cooperative economy; consider rectifying and reforming cooperatives as one of the important measures to implement the policy on developing a multi-sector commodity economy with socialist orientation.

2. Ministries, sectors at the central level, People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities must continue to effectively implement and summarize the implementation of Directive No. 154-CT dated May 15, 1991 of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers (now the Prime Minister); develop plans and specific measures to continue guiding the reform of the cooperative economic sector. The Central Council of the Vietnam Union of Cooperatives and the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities shall guide the implementation of the Charter of the Central Council of the Vietnam Union of Cooperatives approved by the Prime Minister's Decision No. 582-TTg dated December 1, 1993.

Guidance on reforming cooperatives must be conducted carefully, focusing on key areas, promptly learning from experiences to correct deviations, avoiding hasty and coercive actions, and thoroughly implementing the principle of voluntariness and democracy among cooperative members.

3. To further enhance the role of the cooperative economy, the Central Council of the Vietnam Union of Cooperatives, together with the State Planning Committee (Central Institute for Economic Management), shall take the lead in coordinating with the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Finance, the State Committee for Cooperation and Investment, the Ministry of Justice, and the State Bank to study and draft amendments and supplements to current policies for the cooperative economy to be promulgated by the Prime Minister in the first half of 1994, such as allowing cooperatives to accept financial aid projects; to establish cooperative relations with organizations and individuals abroad; to borrow funds from economic and social development projects to create employment opportunities; conditions for cooperatives to directly engage in import and export activities, etc.

4. In coordination with the State Planning Committee (Central Institute for Economic Management), the Central Council of the Vietnam Union of Cooperatives shall take responsibility for researching and summarizing the cooperative economic models that have been and are being formed in provinces and cities, drawing lessons on the operational methods, scope of activities, and organizational scale of various cooperative forms, and on this basis, determine and perfect the draft Law on Cooperatives to be submitted to the National Assembly in 1994.

5. Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies and agencies under the Government, Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities, Minister, Director of the Government Office, Chairman of the Central Council of the Vietnam Union of Cooperatives are responsible for enforcing this directive./.