Former Minister Mai Ai Truc and memories of unforgettable days

Former Minister Mai Ai Truc is 79 years old this year, but he still clearly remembers every milestone in the "all beginnings are difficult" period of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Dear former Minister Mai Ai Truc! You were trusted to hold the important responsibility of the first Minister when the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was established in 2002. With such a new field, there were certainly many challenges. Could you please share your thoughts on the key and urgent tasks at that time?

A newly established Ministry like the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment at that time, really had a lot of work to start. However, the urgent task and also the focus throughout my first term as Minister was to build and perfect the legal system in the fields managed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, in order to contribute to promoting socio -economic development and creating favorable conditions for the management of these fields.

Former Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Mai Ai Truc. Photo: TL.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is assigned to manage many fields, but which field is given top priority in institution building, sir?

In the early period, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment was assigned to manage the fields of land, water resources, minerals, environment, hydrometeorology, surveying and mapping. In the following terms, it was assigned additional tasks of managing climate change, seas and islands. Every field needs to develop a management plan, operate or perfect the legal framework, but land is always the "hottest" field (to this day, after more than 20 years, it is still the same). Therefore, the Ministry must focus its efforts on this field.

Former Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Mai Ai Truc (center) and former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat (right cover) with Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Phuong Hoa in a meeting. Photo: TL.

In just over nine months since the decision to establish the Drafting Committee was made, the Land Law (amended) has institutionalized the Resolution of the Third Conference (9th term) of the Party Central Committee on continuing to innovate land policies and laws during the period of promoting industrialization and modernization of the country, and has been passed by the National Assembly .

The 2003 Land Law and Decree 181, which many people often call the “super decree”, created a big buzz at that time and were warmly welcomed by the community. In your personal role, what important innovations do you think of these legal documents?

Compared with the previous 1993 Land Law, the 2003 Land Law has many innovations, including the following three highlights.

Firstly, this Land Law clarifies the rights of the State as the representative of the entire people's ownership of land and unified land management; at the same time, it stipulates more specifically the rights of land users, including handling many problems in recognizing and granting land use right certificates for many cases that had not been granted certificates for a long time before.

Second, the Law has approached the market economy, for the first time stipulating that land prices regulated by the State must be "close to the actual land use right transfer price on the market under normal conditions; when there is a large difference compared to the actual land use right transfer price on the market, it must be adjusted accordingly" (Article 56 of the Law).

The normal condition here is to eliminate speculative factors that inflate land prices. Unfortunately, after more than 20 years, this regulation has not been implemented in practice. Recently, the 2024 Land Law has removed the regulations on land price frameworks issued by the Government, and at the same time, specifically and closely regulated methods for determining land prices, providing an opportunity to bring land prices regulated by the State closer to market prices, facilitating land management and preventing negative manifestations in determining land prices.

Former Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Mai Ai Truc speaks at an event. Photo: TL.

Third, promote decentralization and delegation of land management. Except for planning issues, national land use plans, land used for defense and security purposes, all other issues are under the authority of local authorities. In addition, land management procedures have also been significantly shortened compared to before.

In addition to the land sector, other sectors of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment must also fundamentally complete legal documents, sir?

Other fields such as water resources, minerals, hydrometeorology, surveying and mapping also have regulations in the form of laws issued by the National Assembly or decrees of the Government, decisions of the Prime Minister specifying the responsibilities of relevant ministries, branches and localities to strengthen the management, protection and sustainable exploitation of natural resources.

To have a basis for amending the Law on Environmental Protection in 1993, the Politburo (9th tenure) issued Resolution No. 41-NQ/TW on environmental protection during the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization of the country. The Resolution determined the viewpoint of considering the environment "an indispensable factor in sustainable socio-economic development, placing environmental protection on par with other development goals" and "taking people as the center, closely combining economic development with solving social problems and environmental protection".

Regarding tasks and solutions, the Politburo requested “Diversifying investment sources for the environment. The State budget alone needs to have a separate expenditure item for environmental career activities and increase expenditure to ensure that by 2006 it will reach a spending level of no less than 1% of total State budget expenditure and gradually increase this ratio according to the growth rate of the economy”.

During the Politburo meeting to discuss and approve this Resolution, some opinions were hesitant about recording that percentage in the Resolution, but after listening to the presentation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on the need to allocate a stable State budget for environmental work, General Secretary Nong Duc Manh concluded that it was necessary to keep this regulation, considering it the "highlight" of the Resolution. Up to now, this regulation is still being implemented, making an important contribution to environmental protection work.

Sir, now the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development are under the same roof. What is your opinion on the combination of policy and law making for the areas managed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment?

Perhaps journalists should ask this question to the comrades in office. I think many areas of our Ministry are closely linked together, so combining and integrating them in policy and law making is necessary.

Thank you. Wishing you health and happiness!

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/nguyen-bo-truong-mai-ai-truc-va-ky-uc-nhung-ngay-kho-quen-d781235.html