Laws of Vietnam

The National Assembly fundamentally agrees with the Government's report on assessment of the implementation of the 2001-2005 five-year socio-economic development plan and the orientations for 2006-2010 five-year socio-economic development with major targets, tasks, norms and solutions; and further resolves:

1. Overall objectives:

To accelerate the economic growth rate, raise the efficiency and sustainability of development, and quickly take the country out of the state of underdevelopment. To markedly improve the people's material, cultural and spiritual life. To speed up industrialization and modernization and develop a knowledge-based economy, laying foundations for making our country a fundamentally industrial country along the direction of modernization by 2020. To maintain political stability, social order and safety. To firmly defend national independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and security. To continue strengthening and broadening foreign relations, raising Vietnam's position in regional and international arenas.

2. Major norms for five years to 2010:

a/ Economically

- The GDP in 2010 at comparative prices shall increase by more than 2.1 times over 2000. The GDP growth rate shall reach 7.5 - 8%/year, with a goal to achieve over 8%/year. The average per-capita GDP at current prices shall be equivalent to USD 1,050-1,100.

- The GDP structure: agriculture to be around 15-16%; industry and construction, 43-44%; services, 40-41%.

- Export turnover shall increase 16%/year.

- The annual proportion of GDP contributed to the State budget shall reach 21-22%.

- The nation's total annual investment capital shall reach around 40% of GDP.

b/ Socially

- The population growth rate shall be around 1.14%.

- Agricultural labor shall account for less than 50% of the workforce.

- Jobs shall be created for more than 8 million laborers; the urban unemployment rate shall be under 5%.

- The poverty rate shall drop to 10-11%.

- To accomplish the universalization of lower secondary education; trained laborers shall account for 40% of the workforce.

- The rate of malnourished under-five children shall drop to below 20%.

c/ Environmentally

- Forest coverage shall reach 42-43%.

- The rate of population using clean water shall reach 95% in urban centers and 75% in rural areas.

- The rate of newly-built production establishments which are subject to the application of clean technologies or furnished with pollution-reducing and waste treatment equipment shall be 100%; the rate of production and business establishments reaching environmental standards shall be over 50%; to build wastewater treatment systems in 100% of the urban centers of grade 3 or higher, 50% of grade-4 urban centers and all industrial parks and export processing zones; 80-90% of the solid wastes and 100% of medical wastes shall be gathered and treated to environmental standards.

1. To bring into full play all potentials and resources, accelerating the economic growth rate, creating breakthroughs in construction of infrastructure, coordinatedly restructuring and raising the competitiveness of the economy.

To perfect the mechanism and policies on administration of development investment, eliminate the ask-and-give mechanism, overcome the state of scattered investment, combat loss, waste and outstanding debts, and enhance the quality of management of investment projects in capital construction.

To intensify investment and create qualitative changes in agricultural production and comprehensive development of the rural economy. To restructure agriculture and rural economy along the direction of industrialization and modernization; to raise the level of research and application of scientific and technological advances to production, preservation and processing. To form and develop on a large sale hi-tech agricultural production regions.

To maintain high growth rates while raising the quality of products and efficiency of industrial production; to raise industrial competitiveness in order to maintain and expand domestic and overseas markets. To concentrate on the selective development of some industries with great potential and products with hi-tech content. To step up the development of the energy industry and industries manufacturing important means of production, attaching importance to the development of labor-intensive industries; to boost the development of economic infrastructure for the process of industrialization and modernization.

To create a leap in the development of the service sector. To raise the quality of traditional services. To develop new services. To develop and raise the competitiveness of potential services. To substantially renew the administrative mechanism and modes of public-service provision- a breakthrough to take the process of socialialization of cultural and social domains to a new stage of development.

2. To actively integrate more intensively and extensively into the regional and world economies. To efficiently fulfill commitments on trade, investment, services and other domains with foreign countries and international organizations. To well prepare conditions for the performance of commitments after our country joins the World Trade Organization (WTO). To make full use of favorable conditions to bring into full play the advantages and restrict the adverse impacts of integration in order to further attract capital, advanced technologies and managerial experience.

3. To create an environment favorable for the development of enterprises, attaching importance to raising the quality and efficiency of their production and business activities; to quickly increase exports, attract capital and high technology, in order to reduce production costs and raise the competitiveness of enterprises. To accomplish the reorganization, renewal and equitization of state enterprises under the provisions of the Enterprise Law. To strongly develop without any restriction on the scale of enterprises of other economic sectors, bringing the number of enterprises to about 500,000 by 2010.

4. To further renew and perfect the institutions and respect the objective requirements of the market economy in economic activities. To concentrate on perfecting the institutions on development of assorted markets for goods, services, real estate, labor, finance and science and technology. To renew planning on socio-economic development along the direction of bringing into the fullest play the positive impacts of markets.

5. To enhance the nation's financial potential. To mobilize to the utmost and efficiently use the financial resources of the state and society, at home and abroad, for development.

To renew the mechanisms of administration of state finances and management of the state budget, ensuring the leading role of the central budget, enhancing decentralization and increasing powers and heightening the responsibility of different budget levels and budget-using units. To raise efficiency, publicity and transparency in the use and management of state budget funds, creating marked improvement in the control of budget funds and intensifying the work of state audit in order to prevent waste and loss of state money and property as well as corruption.

To formulate and administer monetary policies in a flexible manner, ensuring macro-economic stability, controlling inflation and ensuring the safety of the system of banks, raising the quality of credit. To mobilize capital sources while renewing and enhancing the capability to supply capital for development investment. To adopt a flexible exchange rate policy; to renew the mode of payment in the direction of increasing non-cash payment means and increasing the convertibility of Vietnamese currency.

To raise the quality and efficiency of analysis and forecasts; to enhance measures to manage and control the situation of market and price fluctuation, actively dealing with adverse impacts of the fluctuation of world prices and prices of essential supplies and consumer goods, satisfying integration requirements while controlling inflation, and creating a stable environment for the development of production and the improvement of people's lives.

To continue wage reform. To study and uniformly apply the minimum wage level to domestic enterprises and foreign-invested enterprises. To deal with irrationalities in wages and incomes of cadres and civil servants in the apparatus of state bodies, political organizations and socio-political organizations and the incomes of pensioners and State policy beneficiaries.

6. To economically and socially develop territorial regions along the direction of bringing into full play their respective advantages and competitiveness in natural resources, geographical position, and human resources, linking together branches and regions. To adopt open policies to develop key economic regions into motive forces for boosting the national economy. To attach importance to the development of mountainous and border regions, ethnic minority areas and other difficulty-hit regions through various mechanisms and direct support of the State, aiming to narrow the development, income and living-standard gaps between regions and between ethnic groups.

7. To organize the efficient and scheduled execution of projects and important national works for which the National Assembly has adopted investment undertakings, and approved projects and national target programs. The execution of projects, important works and programs must aim to achieve the socio-economic development targets set in the 2006-2010 five-year plan; to concentrate on the objectives of economic growth and restructuring, poverty reduction, job creation, education and job-training development; and disease and epidemic prevention and fighting and people's healthcare.

8. To continue comprehensively renewing education and training. To rationally develop and step up socialization, standardization and modernization in order to raise the quality of education and training. To ensure the quality and renewal of general education curricula at all levels; to renew university education; to prioritize the development of education and job training and ensure a rational human resource structures, meeting the requirements of serving the national industrialization and modernization as well as labor export. To concentrate investment on priority objectives, national programs for education and job-training development; and to provide support for social policy beneficiaries, ethnic minority people, handicapped children, and people in regions with exceptional socio-economic difficulties and in mountainous, island and border regions. To attach importance to fostering gifted pupils and scientific talents.

To continue building the Vietnamese culture into an advanced one imbued with national identity- the objective and spiritual foundation of society. To conserve and promote the values of the nation's traditional culture.

To encourage, mobilize and create conditions for the entire society to participate in physical training and sports activities and develop the cause of physical training and sports. To ensure conditions for stepping up physical training in schools and the armed forces; to develop various forms of mass sports, attaching importance to improving the health of the elderly, disabled and children. To continue realizing and expanding the process of professionalization of high-achievement sports.

9. To raise the capacity and renew the mechanisms of management and organization of scientific and technological research. To speed up technological renewal in various economic sectors, develop high technologies and modernize traditional technologies. To incrementally develop information technology and bio-technology into economic branches with high growth rates, meeting domestic and export demands. To harmonize socio-economic development with a rational and efficient use of natural resources, environmental protection and improvement; to concentrate on redressing environmental pollution in industrial parks, residential areas, craft villages, and large cities; to raise the effectiveness of state administration of environmental protection. To realize the sustainable development strategy in Vietnam. To organize the implementation of Agenda 21 on sustainable development at all levels and in all branches.

10. To apply measures to control population growth. To raise the quality of population and rationally distribute population among regions. To elaborate appropriate planning and policies with a view to satisfying the trend of restructuring population in rural and urban areas.

To prioritize state capital and mobilize social capital for job creation. To raise the quality and efficiency of the use of labor resources. To continue restructuring labor along the direction of reducing the proportion of workers in agriculture- forestry-aquaculture while raising the percentage of industrial and construction labor, particularly labor in the services sector, in the total labor force. To attach importance to job training and job creation for peasants. To efficiently implement the program on labor export, increasing the percentage of skilled labor. To correctly and adequately collect compulsory social insurance, to well prepare and realize voluntary social insurance as well as unemployment insurance.

To diversify resources and modes, to well implement the national program on hunger elimination, poverty reduction, and job creation; to encourage people to get rich lawfully. To concentrate on investment in construction of economic and social infrastructure and support for poor people to improve their own lives. To step up the implementation of the special policy on investment support for production development, particularly supports for land for production, and for residential use, clean water, job training and job creation for ethnic minority people, people in deep-lying, remote and difficulty-hit regions; to prevent the relapse into poverty; and to increase the socialization of the work on hunger elimination and poverty reduction.

To upgrade and develop the networks of grassroots medical establishments, preventive medicine, general hospitals of provincial and district levels, regional medical centers, intensive-care medical establishments for the purposes of stepping up the socialization of medical activities. To raise the capability to oversee, detect and control epidemics, particularly HIV/AIDS and newly arising epidemics. To implement the policy of free-of-charge medical examination and treatment for under-six children, free health insurance for the poor, elderly and policy beneficiaries. To reduce through medical insurance the hospital fees for children over six years of age from poor families. To develop and raise the quality of medical insurance, to well implement voluntary medical insurance, and incrementally proceed toward universal medical insurance for the entire population.

To well implement the policies of preferential treatment towards people with merit, families of war invalids and martyrs and policies towards the elderly, the disabled, and social policy beneficiaries. To develop the network of social welfare. To prevent and proceed to repel social evils of drug addiction, prostitution, and human trafficking.

11. To raise the level, material and spiritual life of women. To provide training and fostering to women so that they participate more in social activities and in leading and administrative agencies at all levels; to create conditions for women to perform and promote their role in all domains of political, economic, cultural and social life. To prevent and fight domestic violence. To respect and guarantee for children the exercise of their rights towards their families and society in accordance with the International Convention on Child Rights and the Law on Child Protection, Care and Education in Vietnam.

To well enforce the Law on Youth and the national strategy on youth development, creating conditions for youth to perform their role as shock force, voluntarily fulfilling their tasks. To implement policies and law on assurance of the rights to freedom of belief and religion. To create conditions for religious organizations to participate in social activities, contributing to national construction and development.

12. To enhance defense and security potentials and take initiative in coping with all contingencies, firmly defending national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity and security, contributing to firmly maintaining political stability, social order and safety.

To boost the development of the defense industry, linking defense requirements with public welfare demands.

To create and integrate strength in foreign affairs with a view to practically serving the objectives of firmly maintaining political stability and security, developing the national economy, raising competitiveness of the country in the world, and promptly and efficiently coping with arising international issues.

13. To expeditiously perfect and ensure the consistency of the legal system in order to satisfy the requirement of building a socialist state ruled by law. To continue renewing and raising the quality of legislative work, ensuring that legal provisions be specific, clear and transparent in order to gradually reduce the promulgation of regulations detailing and guiding implementation. To organize regular and efficient examination, inspection and supervision of the promulgation of regulations detailing and guiding the implementation of laws, ordinances, and resolutions, as well as the observance of law in all aspects of social life.

14. To step up administrative reform; to exercise democracy in all aspects. To revise and promptly wipe out administrative procedures impeding the activities of organizations and individuals and hindering national development. To organizationally consolidate the apparatus of state agencies toward streamlining and more effective and efficient operation suitable to new requirements; to clearly define the functions, duties and responsibilities of each agency and unit. To firmly maintain public duty, discipline. To raise ethical quality, capability, responsibility and sense in service of the contingent of public employees, in heads of agencies and units above all. To detect in a timely manner and strictly handle officials and public servants who break the law, or are degenerate, bureaucratic, or authoritarian.

To continue implementing the strategy on judicial reform, consolidating the organization and operation of investigate bodies, procuracies, courts, judgment-executing bodies, and legal support organizations and agencies, to efficiently struggle against crime of all kinds, particularly organized crime, creating a healthy environment for socio-economic development.

To rationally increase the powers of district-level courts with the organization of regional courts under the judicial reform strategy.

15. To efficiently implement the Anti-Corruption Law and the Law on Practicing Thrift and Combating Waste. To ensure publicity and transparency in decisions on finance and the state budget. To resolutely handle persons who commit acts of corruption regardless of their positions, to apply measures to resolutely recover property belonging to the state, and to limit damage in corruption cases. To promptly commend, reward and apply measures to protect denouncers and people with merit in the struggle to prevent and combat corruption. To raise the responsibility of the heads of agencies, organizations and units in preventing and handling persons who commit acts of corruption, cover up, obstruct the fight against corruption or abuse the denunciation of corruption to slander and harm others, and, cause internal disunity and difficulties for managerial officials.

To implement the 2006-2010 five-year plan on socio-economic development is the duty of all levels, branches, agencies, units and people of all strata.

The Government shall formulate specific programs of action and submit annual plans to the National Assembly for decision; and direct branches and levels to take initiative in organizing the successful achievement of objectives and tasks of the 2006-2010 five-year plan on socio-economic development.

The National Assembly Standing Committee, the Nationalities Council, the Committees of the National Assembly, the delegations of National Assembly deputies, the National Assembly deputies, the People's Councils and deputies to the People's Councils at all levels shall increase their responsibility to supervise the implementation of this Resolution.

The Vietnam Fatherland Front and its member organizations shall supervise and mobilize people of all strata to bring into play their mastery and actively implement the socio-economic development plan.

The National Assembly calls on all compatriots, officials and combatants throughout the country and overseas Vietnamese to heighten the spirit of patriotic emulation, promote dynamism and creativity, and surmount all difficulties and challenges, and contribute to the comprehensive and coordinated renewal, successfully achieving the objectives and goals of the 2006-2010 five-year plan on socio-economic development.