Resolution No. 03/NQ-CP dated February 8, 2012 of the Government on the Government’s Regular Meeting - January, 2012

RESOLUTION

THE GOVERNMENT’S REGULAR MEETING - JANUARY, 2012

The Government on February 4, 2012 convened its regular meeting for January, 2011 to discuss and decide the following issues:

1. Reports on: Socio-economic performance in January 2011; the implementation of the Government’s Resolution 01/NQ-CP dated January 3, 2012 on key solutions for the realization of the socio-economic development plan and State budget estimate for 2012; situation during the recent Lunar New Year Festival; the execution of the Government’s resolution adopted at its regular meeting for December 2011; the Government Working Program for January 2012; inspection work and the settlement of complaints and denunciations, and anti-corruption in January 2012; and administrative reform in January 2012 which were presented by the Minister of Planning and Investment, the Minister-Chairman of the Office of Government, the Government Inspectorate, and the Minister of Home Affairs.

The Government unanimously agreed that with the active mind for realizing Resolutions of the second session of the 13th National Assembly; the Government’s Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated January 3, 2012; the Prime Minister’s Decisions regarding socio-economic development and State budget for 2012, ministries, agencies and localities quickly developed, promulgated and deployed their action plans, then fundamentally finalized the allocation of the plans for socio-economic development, budget estimates and State-funded investment projects for localities, while giving closed directions over all fields right at the beginning of this year.

Despite a string of difficulties which were caused by bad weather conditions, agricultural production still recorded positive outcomes. Southern localities basically and timely finished rice cultivation for Spring-Winter crop; animal and poultry breeding remained relatively stable without a flare of big epidemics; aquaculture productivity increased by 2.2% against the same period last year. Tourism activities were ebullient, with the number of international arrivals rose by 24.8% compared to the same period last year. Securities market improved. State-funded fundamental construction projects were carried out with due attention. Consumer price index in January climbed by 1% against the previous month but it was the lowest figure over the past recent three years. Trade deficit dropped to the smallest digit over the past years. Other fields like culture, sports, healthcare and education were made some progress. Social welfare continued to be ensured, people’s life, particularly for those with meritorious services to the country, lonely old people, and the disabled, has been paid due attention. Administrative reform, inspection work, settlement of complaints and denunciations, and anti-corruption were maintained. National defense and security, political security and social order and safety continued to be strengthened.

During the recent Lunar New Year festival (Tet), ministries, agencies and localities strictly realized the Prime Minister’s instructions, especially of enhanced measures for market price stabilization, crime prevention, social order and safety, resulting in positive outcomes. Hence, sudden price hike and commodity shortage did not appear; food hygiene and safety considerably improved; effective solutions were introduced to prevent crimes, guarantee traffic safety, reduce traffic accidents, prevent fires and explosions, rein in crime growth, put a stop to the production-transportation-trafficking-setting-off of firecrackers, and create favorable conditions for people to travel conveniently and safely. Social welfare and care for people, particularly for policy beneficiary families, poor households, were paid due attention to make sure that all people across the country enjoy a warm, safe and thrifty Tet holidays.

However, the country’s socio-economy is facing with some challenges that need to be addressed such as complicated bad weather conditions which affect production and people’s life. Enterprises continue facing difficulties while interest rates are still high. Owning to the long Lunar New Year festival, industrial development index fell 12.9% against December, 2011. January’s total revenue of retail sales of goods and services dipped against the same period of 2011, while import value shrank. A certain groups of people are still meeting difficulties. Traffic accidents and congestion decreased during the Lunar New Year festival but they were still serious.

In the time to come, the Government requests ministries, agencies and localities to strictly observe and comprehensively deploy the Government’s instructions in order to achieve the targets and tasks set for 2012; focusing on stabilizing macro-economy, curbing inflation, accelerating production and business, effectively realizing social welfare policies while speeding up economic restructuring and growth model renovation. Firstly, the following key tasks and solutions should be centered on:

- Ministries, agencies and localities seriously, decisively, and effectively implement tasks and solutions defined in the resolutions adopted by the National Assembly and Government, especially the Resolution 01/NQ-CP dated January 3, 2012 on key solutions for the realization of the socio-economic development plan and State budget estimate for 2012, the Resolution 02/NQ-CP dated January 7, 2012; focussing on removing businesses’ obstacles so that they can speed up production, create more jobs, and spur growth.

- The State Bank of Việt Nam is responsible for coordinating with ministries and agencies to deploy solutions for encouraging and supporting credit organizations to prioritize capital for agriculture, rural development, export-oriented production, processing and auxialary industries, small and medium-sized or labor-intensive enterprises; designing measures to address the banking system’s liquidity right in Q1/2012; and closely monitoring the real circumstances so as to develop measures for reducing the interest rates at reasonable levels and convenient time.

- The Ministry of Planning and Investment is responsible for coordinating with ministries and agencies to speed up foreign direct investment inflow, particularly from multi-national groups; securring capital for the fundamental projects for people’s life and production; collaborating with the Ministry of Finance to design solutions for mobilizing correspondent capital for official development assistance projects; accelerating the mobilization of domestic capital resources through diverse investment forms, at the same time; perfecting relevant mechanisms and policies; reviewing and classifying enterprises which encounter difficulties and proposing proper policies to assist the enterprises; deploying the plan to allocating capital from the natinal target programs and Government bond for 2012 right after the National Assembly Standing Committee gave comments on the plan.

- The Ministry of Finance works with relevant agencies to research and propose appropriate solutions and roadmaps to adjust prices of some indispensible commodities in line with market machanism; collaborate with the Ministry of Education and Training and the People’s Committee to promply propose the PM to regularly provide rice assistance for ethnic minority pupils in boarding schools in mountainous and special difficulty-faced regions.

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade works with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to deploy measures to develop the domestic markets, increase people’s goods purchasing power, bringing goods and services to rural areas, develop comsumer credit models, renovate buying, selling and distributing channels; prevent speculation, protect benefits of comsumers; continue to tighten controls on the import of non-essential commodities.

- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development instructs, upholds agro-forestry and fishery advantages, maintain and raise its ratio for economic growth; in the short term, focusing on the guiding of the Winter-Spring crop to successfully gain the target and beyond the expectations; promote the prevention of severe cold, damaging cold and epidemics on plants and animals. The Ministry is also responsible for constructing and developing complexes that connecting all production, manufacture, distribute and consume agro-products; work with related ministries, agencies and localities to early design a project to rearrange farms and afforestation yards, then submit it to the PM for approval.

- The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Soical Affairs is responsible for working with localities to effectively deploy social welfare policies; keep a close watch on people’s lives, lack of rice between crop periods, especiallly policy beneficiary households, poor households, and families in natural disaster-hit regions for timely aid relief; review employment situation for proper solutions; collaborate with relevant agencies to study unemployment rates, direct the fulfillment of unemployment insurance in fair manner; push forth vocational training and job generation for laborers.

- The Mininstry of Transport is in charge of cooperating with the Ministry of Public Security and localities to patrol and punish infringements of transport-safety regulations, prevent serious congestion, especially in key areas; continue to supervise and access the solutions to fight traffic jams and reduce accidents; ensure the safety and security of the passengers’ transports.

- The Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for working with ministries, ministerial-level agencies and Government’s units to early finalize the amended decree which stipulates functions, obligations and structure of ministries and agencies, then submit the document to the Government for consideration. Relevant ministries and agencies early review and propose the amendments of their functions and obligations to avoid overlapping while ensuring the validity and efficiency in management.

 - The Ministry of Public Security takes prime responsibility to work with relevant agencies to prevent and combat crime, focusing on key cases, ensure political security and social safety and order. The Government Inspectorate is assigned to work with relevant agencies to settle citizens’ complaints and denunciations; prepare for the national conference on settlement of accusations and complaints which is scheduled on March 2012.

- The Ministry of Health is responsible for working with ministries, agencies and localities to deploy measures to combat possible epidemic outbreaks in humans; timely expose, treat, cure, and stop the spread of brain encephalitis, foot and mouth diseases, avian influenza (A/H5N1); issue and publish new and appropriate regulations on healthcare service prices; perfect the project which will resolve the overload at hospitals and submit it to the PM.

- The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism is in charge of collaborating with local authorities to host traditional festivals in a jubilant and wholesome manner while ensuring social security and order, preserving the national cultural identity and in line with traditional customs; preventing superstition, flaunt and wastefullness.

- The Ministry of Information and Communications is responsible for directing the mass media to disseminate the solutions adopted by the Government, ministries, agencies and localities to fulfill the socio-economic development tasks for 2012. Ministers and ministerial-level leaders hold more dialogues and take positive steps to provide information on policy and management situation, contributing to the creation of social consensus, aiming to fruitfully realize the preset socio-economic goals. Information work should be objective, caustious and avoid social concern.

- Ministries, agencies and offices need to accelerate administrative reform, combat corruption; conduct working programs on schedue in good quality, especially draft laws, ordinances and guiding documents, projects to be submitted to the Party Central Committee and Politburo, action plans for implementation of the resolutions adopted by the Party and National Assembly; expand Party-building work in line with the resolution approved at the fourth meeting of the 11th Communist Party of Việt Nam’s Central Committee.

2. The Government listened to and gave comments on the Government’s draft report on reviewing the implementation of the 1992 Constitution presented by the Steering Committee for reviewing the implementation of the 1992 Constitution.

Over the past time, the Government has instructed ministries, agencies and localities to comprehensively summarize the realization of the 1992 Constitution in terms of legal status, position, role, functions, obligations, competence, and related regulations relating to the implementation of the functions, obligations, and competence of the Government, ministries, mininsterial-level agencies, Government’s agencies, People’s Councils, Mulnicipal People’s Committees to define the contents of the Constitution which were tested in practice and need to be inherited; some contents of the Constitution that should be amended and supplemented to institutionalize documents adopted at the 11th National Congress and related documents issued by the Party and State. The task is of great and long-term significance for national development and has been seriously implemented by ministries, agencies, localities and the Steering Committee.

Government members are assigned to research and give written comments on the draft report. The Government would have further discussions and give comments in a special meeting to finalize the report before submitting it to the Committee on drafting amendments to the 1992 Constitution.

3. The Government discussed the draft law on amendment and supplementation to some of the articles of Tax Management Law, presented by by the Minister of Finance.

The Government agrees that it is neccessary and urgent to amend and supplement some articles of the Tax Management Law for continued tax administrative reform towards simple, clear, transparent orientation, taxpayers’ facilitation; encourge and create favorable conditions for tax payers to declare, calculate and pay tax by themselves; at the same time, strengthen effectiveness and validity of the tax management work in order to combat losses and ease tax debts; collect tax in accurate, adequate and timely manner for the State budget; speed up the modernization of the tax and customs system in accordance with integration trend, internatinal commitments and practices.

The Ministry of Finance is responsible for coordinating with the Ministry of Justice, the Office of Government and relevant agencies to collect comments of the Cabinet members to finalize the draft law. The Minister of Finance, on behalf of the PM and the Government submits the draft law to the National Assembly Standing Committee and the National Assembly.

4. The Government listened and gave comments on the draft decree on detailed implementation of the Mineral Law presented by the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment takes prime responsibility to work with the Ministry of Justice and the Office of Government to collect comments of the Cabinet members to finalize the draft decree and submit it to the PM for issuance. The Ministry also cooperates with the Ministry of Finance to design and issue a guilding circular on money calculation for granting mineral exploitation licenses in Q1, 2012./.