Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Prime Minister Phan Van Khai delivered a speech to the plenary session on August 8 of the current 11th National Assembly on the Orientation for the Action Programme of the government in the 2002-2007 term.

After reviewing the tremendous achievements recorded by Vietnam over the past 15 years of the renovation stage and highlighting advantages and difficulties which the country has been facing, the prime minister pointed to specific tasks for the government in this new term.

The government has decided that in the next five years, efforts should be made to better understand and undertake the primary task of economic development, to accelerate industrialisation and modernisation along with developing culture, realising social progress and equality, and meeting people's urgent requirements for jobs, poverty reduction and improved material, cultural and spiritual life as well as better conditions for studies and medical treatment. Efforts will also be undertaken to ensure social security and order; drive back social evils; make the State apparatus pure, democratic, and transparent for better services to the people; and check and eliminate corruption, bureaucratic work style and bullies.

We should pay due attention to the task of maintaining political security, social order and safety; consolidating and strengthening national defence with focus on key areas, turn to good account our internationally recognised advantages in social and political stability while closely combining the building of the all-people national defence and the people's security with economic development in order to defend our national security, independence and sovereignty in any circumstances.

The government will consistently pursue the external policy confirmed by the Party at the ninth national congress; strictly abide by the guideline of Vietnam being determined to be a trusted friend and partner of all countries in the international community, striving for peace, independence and development with a view to broadening international co-operation, actively integrating into the regional and global economies, and creating a favourable international environment for the country's construction and defence.

The government will discuss in detail its programme of action and, more importantly, discuss how to raise its will and capacity in implementing the programme, focusing on the three major duties as follows:

I - Raising the quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the national economy

The new period of development requires us to continue exploiting the growth factors on an extensive scale with stress on manpower, investment capital and land. However, in order to ensure a steady and sustainable progress, it is a must to create a vigorous quality improvement in an intensive manner, particularly in economic restructuring, upgrade the technological and managerial levels on both macro and micro-scale, thus raising productivity and the competitiveness and effectiveness of products, businesses and the entire economy. To this end, it is necessary to drastically address the major issues of the economy through active actions by the business circles and the people with an effective co-ordination by professional associations and practical encouragement and support from the State. The major issues of the economy are as follows:

1 - Developing production in combination with rapid economic restructuring along the direction of industrialisation and modernisation, satisfying market demands, intensifying exports while effectively producing replacements for imports, expanding the domestic market, bringing into full play available advantages while creating new advantages to improve the competitiveness and efficiency of the economy.

Major changes should be made to the export structure, shifting from the export of raw materials to manufactured and processed products with an increasing number of Vietnamese-made items establishing a firm foothold in the international market.

In the next five years, special efforts should be made to renew the agricultural production and rural economic structure to raise productivity and earning per one unit of land and per one working day; expand the farm produce processing industry and services, boost craft villages' development, shift a part of the agricultural labour force to industrial production and service sectors in rural areas.

It is a must to define crops and livestock suitable to specific ecological conditions of each region to meet food and foodstuff supply demands for domestic consumption, material input for local processing industries and export; to zone off areas specialising in producing commodity farm produce, build high-tech agricultural areas and encourage the application of advanced technology, particularly bio-technology, in agricultural production in order to raise productivity and quality of products, lower production costs, improve processing technology, and raise the competitiveness of farm produce in both the domestic and international markets.

Business co-operation between farmers or material suppliers and processing establishments, farm produce distributors and scientists and technicians should be rapidly boosted on the basis of mutual benefits.

Urban areas and industrial zones should pay attention to developing processing industries that apply new technology and are environmentally friendly; increasing the localisation rates while raising the competitive edge of industrial products for domestic consumption and export; effectively carrying out infrastructure construction programmes, developing the energy industry and other industries that supply means of production and provide technical facilities for the economy and the national defence; rapidly expanding services in conformity with their role of economic-cultural-scientific-technological centre of each region or the entire country.

The State should pay attention to devising master plans for various branches of activities and regions, building infrastructural facilities, developing science-technology and at the same time exercising policies to give businesses and people access to favourable production and business conditions, advanced technology, human resource training, information, marketing, and to build their own trademarks, so as to effectively carry out economic restructuring.

2. Bringing into full play all investment development resources and raising the efficiency of investment: To continue creating a favourable environment for enterprises and people to boldly invest in developing production and business; create favourable conditions for the capital market to further develop and gradually expand and upgrade the securities market; attract more foreign investment, particularly foreign direct investment (FDI) and step by step apply forms of indirect investment under supervision; continue tapping official development assistance (ODA) resources and controlling commercial loans abroad.

The State will focus on investing in the construction of economic and social infrastructure facilities, carrying out a preferential credit policy for investment in the sectors and localities that need it most; supplement and amend regulations on construction investment with State budget funding, clearly define the responsibility and enhance the supervision of the quality of projects and equipment; effectively prevent negative phenomena in bidding, designing and execution of projects; and severely punish any violations that cause capital losses and low quality to projects.

To strongly develop all forms of business in all economic sectors, paying attention to small and medium-sized enterprises, including commodity production household economy, and increasing the proportion of dynamic and competitive enterprises; to develop all forms of co-operative economy and accelerate the process of reforming State-owned enterprises, re-arranging and diversifying the ownership of enterprises not wholly owned by the State, renewing technology and management in order to increase the operation efficiency; to ensure the leading role of the State economy, which has together with the collective economy become the foundation of the national economy.

In parallel with the implementation of the Enterprise Law and the building of a common law for all enterprises, the amendments and supplements to the Law on Enterprise Bankruptcy should be carried out soon to settle unprofitable and insolvent enterprises, thus contributing to making economic relations healthy.

3. Basically forming as soon as possible the institutional system of a socialist-oriented market economy, making it suitable to our country's practical conditions and its need for active integration into the global economy, enhancing positive effects and overcoming side effects of the market economy. This should be implemented with focus on completing the legal framework for establishing all market factors and a healthy and orderly business environment in order to ensure equality among all economic sectors in terms of capital requirement and the use of land, technology, information and others.

The State will further encourage business competition according to law, limit and inspect business monopoly, eliminate subsidies, gradually reduce protection barriers, thus helping to force enterprises to give up their habit of awaiting help and support from the State as well as to actively renew their technology and improve management, and raise their competitiveness for survival and development.

At the same time, the State will help enterprises increase their competitiveness and reduce production costs through investment and trade operations, research and transfer of technology, supply of business information, administrative reforms, control of price monopoly and reduction of business contact charges.

4. Developing science and technology, renewing our managerial mechanism in order to develop a technological market, regarding research products as special commodities in tandem with enhancing the autonomy of scientific-technological research organisations.

Importance is attached to the import and effective application of new technologies; incentives will be used to boost scientific and technological activities in conjunction with production and business operations as well as to raise the competitive edge of each product and each enterprise as well as the whole national economy.

The government will increase investment in scientific and technological research, especially investment in developing key technologies, as well as create a favourable environment to help enterprises increase contracts with scientific and technological organisations and co-operate with each other in studying and applying new technologies.

5. Ensuring macro-economic stability, making the national finance healthy, including the financial systems of both the State and businesses; renewing and raising the quality of monetary-credit operations.

Efforts should be focused on the important and urgent tasks of continuously renewing our financial policy, implementing our programme on tax reforms in connection with improving the organisation and operation of tax collection, strictly controlling State budget expenditure; developing a capital market, renovating credit mechanisms, solving bad debts, reducing overdue debts, increasing the capacity of inflation and deflation control, making exchange and interest rates suitable to the market mechanism, reducing the use of cash in monetary circulation, and increasing the convertibility of the Vietnamese dong, VND.

II - Comprehensive human resources development settlement of pressing social issues:

All activities for the development of human resources are geared towards serving all people in all areas of the country, especially individuals from ethnic minority communities and in mountainous and remote areas. The following are urgent issues which should be addressed with concerted efforts:

1 - Generating employment, increasing per capita income and reducing poverty are urgent and fundamental issues.

In order to generate jobs for tens of millions of workers including individuals unemployed in the urban areas and under-employed in the rural areas as well as workers made redundant as a result of State-owned enterprise restructuring, and those reaching the working age annually, tens of thousands of new production and business establishments should be formed, mainly of small and medium sizes. Along with applying policies to support redundant workers from the State business sector and to generate more jobs using public investment funds, the State will create more favourable conditions for the economic sectors to expand production and business operations, to create jobs and to develop the labour market, including labour export.

The State will facilitate the creation of conditions for the population to increase incomes, control the wage system through Labour laws; support the poor, and encourage people to enrich themselves legally. Efforts will be made to improve farmers' living conditions while developing new rural areas, and step by step to reduce differences and form a rational balance in incomes between rural and urban areas, between different regions and different classes in the population.

The State and society at large will render more effective assistance to the construction of infrastructure facilities and economic, cultural and social development in poor regions and communes; encourage and assist households to free themselves from poverty, and create conditions for the poor to gain access to basic services such as education and health care. Activities should be accelerated to pay debts of gratitude to and care for the lives of disabled people, Agent Orange victims, the elderly, orphaned children. Insurance policies should also be broadened to provide greater coverage for a greater number of people.

2. Raising the quality of education and training at all levels, redesigning the structure of the education system and expanding its scale, as well as rapidly developing vocational training, and facilitating inter-branch training co-operation. Moreover, education-training will be combined with scientific-technological research closely linking both fields to socio-economic development demands, meeting the education demands of all citizens, fostering talent, as well as improving technological and managerial skills.

Improving the efficiency of State investments while accelerating socialisation and mobilising the entire society to participate in the development of education and training and science and technology in various forms.

Implementing the resolutions of the sixth plenum of the Party Central Committee (ninth Congress) on education and training and science and technology, focusing on renovating and improving management capacity, building a contingent of teaching staff and scientific and technological researchers, putting an end to corruption in education, examination and the certificate granting process.

3. Implementing a comprehensive public health plans which includes raising people's physical health, protecting the natural environment and continuing to reduce the population growth rate in combination with protecting re-productive health and child care, improving nutrition, promoting physical training and sports activities, preventing diseases and providing medical treatment.

Encouraging people to care for their health and protect themselves from diseases, together with developing a network of diversified health care establishments. State-owned medical establishments should renovate their management mechanisms and improve the quality of their operations to better play a key role and guide private medical institutions.

4. Facilitating the mobilisation of all citizens to lead a healthy and productive lifestyle, organising diverse and valuable cultural and artistic performances and activities. The campaign should be combined with the launching of a movement to mobilise all people, all families and all businesses to engage in economic development activities to make themselves and the nation wealthy.

Top priority should be given to building families into healthy cells of a civilised society characterised by good family planning, good child care, improved cultural and material living standards, a lifestyle and workstyle in conformity with law, good performance of family duty and mutual assistance in the community.

Consistently exercising the policy of showing respect for and ensuring people's rights to religious freedom and to conducting lawful religious services in order to meet the spiritual demands of a group of people while bringing into full play the positive influence of religions in the fight against social evils.

5. On the basis of improving the material, cultural, and spiritual life of the people, raising the capacity of all people, all families, all communities and all relevant agencies in intensifying the implementation of national programmes on preventing and combating social evils, drastic efforts must be made to drive back and prevent drug abuse, prostitution and superstition, and to effectively combat the spread of unhealthy cultural products to ensure a healthy social environment.

Devising uniform solutions together with mobilising the strength of the whole society and the State to effectively settle urgent problems concerning urban traffic congestion and accidents.

III- Creating a strong and transparent administrative system

The government has decided an overall programme on administrative reform for ten years, from 2001 to 2010, which is combined with socio-economic reform and placed within the total renovation of the political system. This is aimed at building a democratic, transparent, strong, professional and modern administrative system that effectively operates for the people, in accord with the principles of a law-governed socialist State.

During its new tenure, the government will direct the following tasks:

1. Supplementing and perfecting the organisational and operational institutions of the State administrative system in connection with building the institutions of a socialist-oriented market economy (as mentioned above), continuing to renew the State's management functions, and bringing into full play the sense of autonomy and responsibility of enterprises and citizens economic activities.

Concretising the Laws on Government Organisation, clearly defining the functions, tasks and powers of the government, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and local agencies while eliminating the overlapping of tasks and the unclear definition of responsibilities. In the administrative apparatus, each organisation and each person will be responsible for a specific task. Any task which cannot be clearly assigned to any single agency should be placed under the sponsorship of a certain agency with coordination regulations. To uphold the individual's responsibility through concrete regulations: the head of an agency will be responsible not only for the work but also for any wrongdoings of state employees under his/her management.

Issuing clearer regulations on the decentralisation of administrative responsibilities and powers to centrally-run provincial and municipal administrations and other levels on the principle of combining decentralisation with the division of work, personnel and budget funding and the building of principles and regulations on work settlement, thus ensuring that the administrative management will be unified in the institution, close to the people and supervised by the people.

Continuing to properly rearrange the organisation of the State administrative apparatus at all levels. Implementing a programme on the application of information technology in the State management. Revising and supplementing policies towards cadres, public employees, including those working in communes, wards and townships. Building a contingent of qualified public employees, expanding the scale and renewing the training of public employees, thus ensuring that all public employees at all sectors and levels will be qualified as required after a period of training.

Renovating the financial system in State offices, distinguishing between administrative agencies and non-production units. For administrative agencies, it is necessary to define proper criteria and norms to improve the building and allocation of the State budget through the experimental granting of quotas of public employees and administrative expenditure. For non-production public units, it is necessary to bring into full play the sense of autonomy and create favourable conditions for them to improve their self-accounting capabilities with a view towards the system of financial self-management.

2. Resolutely and effectively combating corruption and wastefulness, which still remain rampant and serious in two areas: First, public property embezzlement and wasteful expenditure, especially in land management and construction investment; and second, misuse or abuse of power by state officials in the administrative systems or demands for bribes. The following measures should be taken to ensure an effective constraint on these illegal practices:

- Further strengthening the work of legislation building in order to bridge the gap and eliminate irrational points which are being abused. Quickly revising the Land Laws and other existing legal documents on land and housing management, thus helping create a legal framework for the emergence and healthy operation of a real estate market (including land use rights) under the State's control, and preventing any speculation that may cause real estate bubble.

Remedying irrational regulations on public property management, investment and the implementation of projects with public capital sources, eliminating the illegal brokerage of projects and construction investment, preventing illegal bidding and illegal collusion in construction bidding and equipment purchases; continuing to eliminate unnecessary "give-take" regulations and simplifying administrative procedures.

- Completing and implementing our regulations on democracy and openness at the grassroots level, especially in the sectors pertaining to public property and finance, employment and the daily lives of local people; taking measures to deal with those who do not observe this regulation or carelessly carry out it. It is necessary to propose that the National Assembly issues a law on supervision to create the legal framework for raising the effectiveness of supervision by people-elected bodies and mass organisations over government agencies and officials as well as public employees.

- Basically reforming our current salary system in the State-owned sector, actively seeking more sources in order to further raise salaries to appropriate levels; eliminating irrationalities in the current salary system in order to encourage public employees and government officials to improve their knowledge as well as to raise productivity and uphold their sense of responsibility and discipline in performing their duties.

- Resolutely uncovering corruption and trade fraud cases, and organised criminal organisations which have links with corrupt officials in the State apparatus. In addition, severe punishments and penalties will be handed down to all corrupt officials regardless of what positions they hold.

It is also necessary to analyse all of the causes and to nip them in the bud, especially the measures to bridge the gaps in our institutional and managerial systems, which have created opportunities for the abuse of power. Moreover, more effective methods will be taken in the inspection and supervision of government agencies, especially law-enforcement institutions.

3. Increasing discipline in the State administrative system and firmly preserving social order and discipline according to the law.

Inspection and supervision of institutional implementation, first of all, the performance of duties in the government offices and agencies, must be undertaken as a regular important task in all activities of the government and the administrations at all levels. Besides their efforts to reinforce the State's inspection and auditing agencies, the prime minister and the heads of administrative organisations at all levels must spend time working directly with their subordinates as well as with the grassroots levels in order to inspect their work performance and through it to make correct remarks on officials and employees under their direct management. Such inspection and supervision will not only help to determine mistakes and shortcomings made by the subordinates but will also create initiatives and good examples.

Strictly dealing with uncovered mistakes and errors, particularly the abuse of power by government officials and employees to lend a helping hand to and protect bad elements and criminals, causing bad effect to people and businesses. It is a must to conduct the legal proceedings against those leading officials who make serious mistakes and errors. The government will give its instructive opinions in solving outstanding cases and through them, to take measures to ensure discipline in our administrative system. (VNA