Proactive legislation, development creation

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue delivered the opening speech at the 5th Session of the 15th National Assembly.

Dear National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, 2023 is the mid-term year of the 15th National Assembly. Could you share the outstanding results of the National Assembly's activities last year?

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue: It can be seen that the workload of the National Assembly in 2023 is greater, it can be said to be "the most since the beginning of the term".

That is the successful organization of 5 National Assembly sessions, including 2 regular sessions and 3 extraordinary sessions; 16 sessions of the National Assembly Standing Committee, not to mention conferences of full-time National Assembly deputies, and meetings of the National Assembly Standing Committee between the 5th and 6th Sessions to receive and explain the contents submitted to the National Assembly for voting and approval at the 2 regular sessions of the National Assembly. Thus, the number of sessions in 2023 alone is equal to the number of sessions in half of the National Assembly's term.

Starting from the 5th Session, with the initiative of arranging and organizing two sessions of each session, it shows flexibility, adaptability and meets practical requirements in the current period.

2023 is also a year with many "firsts" such as: Successfully organizing the first Dien Hong Award; preparing for the second Dien Hong Award ceremony (taking place in January 2024); National Conference on implementing laws and resolutions of the National Assembly to thoroughly grasp the Central's viewpoint and direction of "closely linking law-making with law enforcement"; Labor Forum; Mock session of "Children's National Assembly"... In which, a number of events have been voted as typical events of the National Assembly in 2023.

Thus, it can be seen that the workload is very large, with many difficult and complicated issues, placing very high demands on the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee and each National Assembly delegate. Although there is a lot of work and great pressure, in my opinion, the most valuable thing is that each cadre and National Assembly delegate... feels happy to contribute their efforts to the common work. The Government, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy , the Fatherland Front, central and local ministries, branches and sectors are all in this common work, effort and endeavor.

I would like to emphasize that National Assembly deputies are the representatives of the will and aspirations of the people - the center of the National Assembly's activities. Over the terms, the activities of National Assembly deputies have increasingly had positive changes associated with innovation in the organization and activities of the National Assembly.

At the sessions, National Assembly deputies demonstrated a sense of responsibility, enthusiasm, and delivered profound and multi-dimensional speeches in many fields. In particular, the number of deputies registering to speak, discuss, and question was very large, especially at the recent 6th Session. It can be seen that the spirit of innovation in the parliament has contributed to improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the National Assembly's operations; demonstrating efforts in fulfilling promises to voters.

Regarding legislative work, the National Assembly continues to uphold the spirit of proactive legislation, creating development with a long-term vision. The goal of the law-making work during the 15th National Assembly term is to synchronously perfect development institutions and create a legal framework to successfully carry out socio-economic development tasks in the 2021-2025 period.

Right from the beginning of the term, the Politburo issued Conclusion No. 19-KL/TW (2021) on the orientation of the Law-making Program for the 15th National Assembly. This is the first time in the legislative history of the National Assembly that a Conclusion has been issued by the Politburo to orient legislative tasks throughout the term.

As of the 6th Session, the National Assembly agencies and relevant agencies have completed 114/137 legislative research tasks of the entire term of the 15th National Assembly (reaching 83.21%).

This is a clear demonstration of the strong innovation in the thinking of law-making from management to creating sustainable development for the country, demonstrating the high sense of responsibility, proactiveness and positivity of the Party Delegation of the National Assembly in urgently institutionalizing the policies and guidelines of the 13th National Party Congress, and promptly bringing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress into life.

The above results show that we have overcome the situation of “waiting for rice in boiling water” in the spirit of early and far-reaching initiative. This is a valuable experience that has been accumulated and developed over the 78 years of the Vietnamese National Assembly.

Looking back at 2023, thematic supervision activities continue to be a “bright spot”. We do not only supervise in a “post-audit” manner, but focus on supervising issues that are being implemented, thereby helping the National Assembly and the Government to remove obstacles and difficulties in the implementation process.

In 2023, for the first time, the National Assembly conducted mid-term supervision and voted to pass a Resolution on thematic supervision of "the implementation of the National Assembly's Resolutions on the National Target Programs on new rural construction for the 2021-2025 period, sustainable poverty reduction for the 2021-2025 period, and socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the 2021-2030 period".

The National Assembly has assigned the Government to urgently develop a draft resolution on a number of specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties and obstacles, speed up the implementation of National Target Programs to submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision at the nearest session according to shortened procedures; including a pilot mechanism for decentralization to the district level to decide on the list, structure, and allocation of state budget capital...

Making timely decisions like this comes from preparing “early, from afar”. From the beginning of the term, supervision has been identified as a key and central content. Performing the supervision function well will have a positive impact on the implementation of legislative functions and decisions on important issues of the country.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and delegates perform the groundbreaking ceremony for the Phu Thu Intersection Construction Investment Project and connecting road in Tien Hiep commune, Phu Ly city (Ha Nam province).

Could the National Assembly Chairman please share the key tasks and new requirements of the National Assembly in 2024?

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue: At the 6th Session, the National Assembly decided not to pass two drafts: the Land Law (amended) and the Law on Credit Institutions (amended).

After studying and absorbing the comments of 12 million people on the draft Law on Land (amended), due to the special importance and complexity of this law project and the many different opinions on the viewpoints in considering the draft Law on Credit Institutions (amended), the National Assembly discussed and contributed many very valid opinions, at the same time carefully considered many aspects and decided to consider and expected to pass it at the nearest session.

The National Assembly passed a Resolution on the application of additional corporate income tax in accordance with regulations on preventing erosion of the global tax base and allowing the establishment of an Investment Support Fund from global minimum tax revenue and other legal sources to support businesses.

The National Assembly added this content in the 6th Session and passed the Resolution, which will take effect from January 1, 2024. The application of global minimum tax regulations from 2024 under the guidance of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is urgent to both proactively gain the right to impose additional taxes and create a favorable investment environment to continue to strongly attract foreign investment flows.

Along with meeting the urgent requirements of practical life, this also shows that the National Assembly continues to thoroughly grasp the principle: Issues that require practicality, are clear, have been proven correct by practice, and have high consensus, must be resolutely implemented; issues that are unclear, with many different opinions, must continue to be researched, summarized in practice, and piloted when permitted by competent authorities; policies that have been implemented but are not suitable must be researched, adjusted, and revised promptly.

2024 is a pivotal year of special importance, the National Assembly sets out the requirement to continue to prioritize promoting economic growth, maintaining macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, and ensuring major balances of the economy. The Resolution on the 2024 Socio-Economic Development Plan passed at the 6th Session also set a target of a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 6-6.5%.

As I said, the National Assembly continues to uphold the spirit of proactive legislation, creating development with a long-term vision. With urgent issues that need to be resolved promptly, within its authority, the National Assembly will issue resolutions. In 2022, the National Assembly issued resolutions approving the investment policy of 6 important national transport projects with very large investment capital. These six projects are all key and urgent transport projects, ensuring national defense and security, having a spillover effect, strengthening regional connectivity, promoting the socio-economic development of the country, regions and localities where the projects pass through.

The resolution on piloting a number of specific policies on investment in road construction approved by the National Assembly at its 6th Session continues in that spirit. This mechanism is expected to help 21 other key transport projects in the country significantly shorten the time and speed up the project progress.

Recently, the Government and the National Assembly Standing Committee have conducted a general review of the system of legal documents in all fields and nationwide. On that basis, the National Assembly issued a Resolution requesting the Government to promptly review, handle and report the results at the 7th Session, and have solutions to immediately overcome conflicts and overlaps; have effective solutions to overcome the situation of evasion and lack of responsibility among a number of civil servants and public employees. Urgently study and propose amendments to the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents...

The results of the general review and systematization of the legal system are of great significance to the administrative reform process. From there, in 2024, we will continue to conduct a general review of administrative procedures.

At the same time, we will accelerate the progress of construction and development of socio-economic infrastructure, especially key national projects and works; comprehensively develop cultural, social and social security fields; promptly develop and submit to the National Assembly for consideration and decision the National Target Program on cultural revival and development, building Vietnamese people; and synchronously implement salary policy reform from July 1, 2024.

The National Assembly, together with the political system, continues to perfect and build a streamlined state apparatus that operates effectively and efficiently, effectively overcoming the situation of shirking, avoiding, fear of mistakes, and fear of responsibility of a number of cadres and civil servants, tightening administrative discipline, civil servant and public service discipline; further promoting the work of preventing and combating corruption, negativity, waste, and group interests...

All are aimed at unleashing all potentials and resources, creating new momentum for the country's rapid and sustainable development.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue speaks at the First Plenary Session of the 44th General Assembly of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA-44)

Could the National Assembly Chairman please share about parliamentary diplomacy and the new requirements and tasks in the current period, especially promoting the "soft power" of parliamentary diplomacy, serving the country's economic development and international integration in the new period?

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue: In line with Vietnam's foreign affairs achievements, the National Assembly's foreign affairs activities in recent times have not only been vibrant but have also been improved in quality. We have "strongly promoted the characteristics of both state diplomacy and profound people's diplomacy". It can be affirmed that 2023 is a year of outstanding success for parliamentary diplomacy.

There have been more than 10 delegations of National Assembly/Parliament Chairmen of other countries making official visits to Vietnam and many working trips by leaders of the Vietnamese National Assembly to countries participating in multilateral forums; many international agreements on behalf of the National Assembly have been newly signed/re-signed between the Vietnamese National Assembly and parliaments of other countries.

Bilateral foreign affairs activities focus on relations with neighboring countries; deepen relations with strategic partners; substantially promote relations with cooperative partners and traditional friends; enhance trust with other partners...

The National Assembly's foreign affairs activities have turned parliamentary diplomacy into an important foreign political channel, a source of strength to promote deep and effective cooperation with other countries, and enhance the country's international position...

In multilateral parliamentary diplomacy, the National Assembly has actively and proactively participated with the mindset of being ready to "contribute to building and shaping common rules of the game" and "initiate and lead" new initiatives at international and regional inter-parliamentary forums such as IPU, AIPA, etc.

A recent example is the success of the 9th Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians with the theme: “The role of youth in promoting the implementation of sustainable development goals through digital transformation and innovation”. The conference adopted a Joint Statement - the first Conference Statement of the IPU Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians through 9 conferences.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, Standing member of the Secretariat Truong Thi Mai and delegates take a group photo at the opening ceremony of the 9th Global Conference of Young Parliamentarians.

The first Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam National Assembly Summit was held in Laos in early December 2023, and the Chairmen of the National Assemblies of the three countries signed and approved the Joint Statement. The establishment of this mechanism is an important milestone in the history of cooperation between the three National Assemblies, marking the elevation of cooperation between the three legislative bodies to the highest level.

The conference marked the completion of the “three peaks of the triangle” of the high-level cooperation mechanism between Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, which is the Heads of the three Parties, the Prime Ministers of the three countries and now the Chairmen of the three National Assemblies, have been completed, creating a “three-legged stool”: the Party’s policies and guidelines; institutionalization, building of the legal framework and supervision of the National Assembly; implementation of the Government so that the three countries of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam can cooperate more closely.

Our top priority is to continue to maintain and strengthen a peaceful and stable environment for national development towards two 100-year goals (by 2030, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam, and by 2045, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the country). To do this well, we need to constantly innovate, be creative and flexible in foreign affairs thinking, in implementation methods, with new thinking and new ways of doing things. New thinking is a global, multilateral and interdisciplinary approach, on the basis of maintaining independence, autonomy, sovereignty and territorial integrity. We need to continue to promote the foreign policy school imbued with the identity of the "Vietnamese bamboo tree", "firm roots, strong trunk, flexible branches" as directed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

In that spirit, the Vietnamese National Assembly continues to cultivate relations with the legislative bodies of other countries, good relations with friendly parliamentary alliances, prestigious individual parliamentarians..., considering them as our "political capital" in relations with the legislative bodies of other countries.

Along with that, we continue to promote the strengths of the National Assembly's foreign relations channel, representing the people; promote "soft" exchanges in culture, society, education, youth, tourism... and strongly spread the image of Vietnam to the region and the world.

The National Assembly's foreign affairs also continue to be associated with the implementation of many recently established cooperation frameworks, such as the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) at COP26, the implementation of the "Asian Net Zero Emission Community" (AZEC) initiative of the Japanese Government, etc.

We continue to focus on promoting economic diplomacy, identifying this as a central task and an important driving force for development, in the spirit of "taking people, localities and businesses as the center of service".

The task of building a professional, comprehensive, and modern diplomacy is both an urgent and strategic requirement for foreign affairs and an inevitable trend of world diplomacy. The National Assembly will continue to give high priority to the diplomatic sector when considering and regulating issues within its jurisdiction.

Along with that, the National Assembly's foreign affairs continue to proactively implement the policy of raising the level of multilateral foreign affairs, especially within the framework of ASEAN - AIPA and the United Nations - Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU); ready to "initiate and lead" in issues in which Vietnam has strengths and experience such as: Poverty eradication, ensuring food security, water security, gender equality, healthcare, etc.

In 2023, Vietnam's population will reach 100 million - an important and impressive milestone in the development process. The country has had nearly 40 years of innovation, Vietnam's per capita income has reached the average level and is increasing rapidly... The people's right to mastery is exercised through a truly socialist rule-of-law state of the people, by the people and for the people.

The new spring is coming, I would like to wish our compatriots, voters nationwide, and the overseas Vietnamese community good health, happiness, and success in the new year. Continuing to promote the strength of national solidarity, the initiative of the entire political system, the companionship, efforts, and enthusiasm of the people and the business community, we will definitely overcome difficulties and challenges, seize opportunities, and soon complete the national development goals set forth in the Resolution of the 13th National Congress of the Party.

Sincerely thank National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue!./.

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