Laws of Vietnam

In order to achieve an economic growth rate in the last six months higher than that in the first half of 2000, besides the existing solutions, the Government decides to concentrate on carrying out from now to the end of 2000 the four following groups of solutions:

I. PRODUCTION PROMOTING MEASURES

1. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall, together with other ministries and related agencies and the localities, speedily implement the Government’s Resolution No. 03/2000/NQ-CP of February 2, 2000 on the farm economy and Resolution No. 09/2000/NQ-CP of June 15, 2000 on restructuring the agricultural economy and the consumption of agricultural products, with special attention paid to guiding well the exportation of rice. To continue to buy for provisional stocking one million tons of rice for export under the previous plan and to buy for provisional stocking another 400,000 tons of rice; all this amount of rice shall be eligible for interest rate subsidies up to October 2000.

All branches and localities should urgently carry out the inspection of dykes and embankments, repair and strengthen the vital sections; adopt concrete plans to guard against and fight floods and storms, ensure safety for the dykes and embankments and for the population and production; adopt plans to evacuate the population from crucial areas prone to heavy disasters in order to limit the damage to the minimum in case of accidents.

To concentrate on directing the fight against precocious floods in the provinces of the Mekong River delta, to assist the areas meeting with difficulties. In the last six months of 2000, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Ministry of Aquatic Resources and the Ministry of Planning and Investment in submitting to the Government the plan of developing agriculture in the direction of making the most of the comparative advantages and meeting the demands of the market in the country and export.

2. The Ministry of Trade should take meaures and guide the other ministries, branches and enterprises to seek for new markets for the food export, including deferred payment export; extend the market for the export of aquatic and marine products, textiles and garments, handicraft and art articles and other consumer goods to the EU market, the Middle East, North Africa and Cuba under the commitments of the Government; actively prepare conditions and plans to take up the US market.

3. The Ministry for Foreign Affairs shall coordinate with the Ministry of Trade in guiding the Vietnamese diplomatic missions and trade representations abroad to probe and seek for markets, and supply sensitive and timely information on local traders and market demands in order to better serve the export and import business activities of the domestic enterprises.

4. The Vietnam State Bank shall guide the commercial banks to keep in close touch with the market of the rural area, remove the difficulties and hindrances, continue to lend capital to farmers for investment in aquaculture (especially raising of shrimps for export), raising of domestic livestock and fowl, the farm economy, development of planting of industrial crops, fruit trees, and development of the craft villages, small and medium enterprises. In the event of major natural disasters, it should suspend debt repayment in order to continue lending.

The ministries, branches and localities shall examine and choose their advantageous products susceptible for development such as cement, iron and steel, various types of building materials, footwear, garments, small motors, consumer engineering machines, electronic home appliances...; quickly propose support meaures to broaden production. To seek measures to step up the exploitation of oil and gas with a view to achieving the target set in the plan at the beginning of this year.

7. In August 2000 the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Culture and Information, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and the Ministry of Education and Training shall submit to the Prime Minister for making public the list of specific branches and trades banned from business. The Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance and the State Securities Committee shall promulgate the regulations on the granting of operation licenses for the implementation of the Law on Enterprises.

8. Those ministries, branches and localities that have not yet worked out their plans of rearranging the State enterprises shall have to urgently direct the completion of the plan of rearrangement for submission to the Prime Minister.

To promote the equitization and the forms of assignment, sale, contracting and hire of the small and medium-sized State enterprises which have suffered from losses in business.

9. The Ministry of Construction shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the Vietnam State Bank and the related agencies in formulating the mechanism of installment sale of dwelling houses for submission to the Prime Minister.

10. The Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration shall concentrate on efforts raising the quality of services to passengers and overcome the delay and cancellation of scheduled flights.

II. SOLUTIONS TO STEP UP THE TEMPO OF DEVELOPMENT INVESTMENT

1. The ministers, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall quickly allocate supplementary funds according to Decision No. 568/QD-TTg of June 23, 2000 of the Prime Minister and Notice No.77/BKH/TH of June 30, 2000 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment and send the allocation plan to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance for monitoring and serving as basis for the allocation.

The ministers, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to allocate all the development investment fund (according to the plan adopted at the beginning of the year and the plan for supplementary fund). In case it is deemed impossible to allocate all the assigned investment fund, suggestions must be made to transfer this fund to other projects, not to carry forward to 2001. The Minister of Planning and Investment is entrusted with deciding the transfer of the fund at the proposals of the ministers, branches and localities.

To make adequate preparations to start or prepare the construction of a number of important projects in 2000 and in early 2001: the tunnel through Hai Van Pass, Can Tho bridge, Thanh Tri Bridge, Bai Chay bridge, Binh bridge, Rao Quan project, Ta Trach project, Dinh Binh lake, Ba Lai, Thao Long and Cua Dat dams, water conservancy projects in Mekong River delta (WB2), the transformation of Bim Son cement plant, Haiphong Cement plant (new), the National Sports Complex, the Television Programs Production center, the Satellite Television Reception and Transmission center, the agricultural seeds system, the Can Don power plant, the Na Duong power plant, the gas-fuelled power station in South Con Son...

3. The Ministry of Finance and the localities shall make temporary allocation of 60%-70% of the remaining capital for construction and assembly in 2000 to the projects funded with the State budget (including the funds of the national programs). Once the construction volume has taken shape, the investors must immediately conduct test and fill procedures for payment; upon receiving the invoice of the investor, the fund settlement agency shall immediately make procedures for payment. Should any difficulty happen, it shall advance 70%-80% of the volume already achieved under the plan. Payment for the remaining volume shall be made after settlement of the difficulty.

5. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Communications and Transport, the Ministry of Industry and the Vietnam Electricity Corporation shall coordinate with the localities in working out plans for ground clearance; the presidents of the People’s Committees of the concerned provinces or cities shall have to quickly evacuate the population, carry out the resettlement and remove the hindrances in order to clear the ground for the construction of the projects, especially the following ODA projects: the water conservancy restoration and anti-flood project, the water conservancy project for the Red River delta, the project of water conservancy restoration in Central Vietnam and the Hoc Mon - North Binh Chanh projects (at the Dong Hung pumping station, the Tho Son, Nghi Phu and Nghi Duc canals), the project of transforming and developing the Hanoi - Haiphong - Nam Dinh electrical grid, and the electrical grids of the cities and towns; National Highway 1 (section Hanoi - Lang Son, section Phap Van - Van Dien), the urban communication project in Hanoi, the Hanoi drainage project, the urban infrastructure project Phase 1 in Hanoi, the restoration project of bridges on National Highway 1A (Bac Giang bridge, Tan Thinh bridge, Dap Cau bridge and Duong bridge).

6. The General Land Administration shall improve and reduce the procedures for land allocation, assignment or lease to create favorable conditions for the enterprises that need to use land to carry out investment projects.

7. The Development Assistance Fund shall concentrate on quickly carrying out activities in guaranteeing loans and supporting post-investment interest rate. The Managing Board of the Development Assistance Fund shall quickly coordinate with the banks to work out, issue and guide the implementation of the regulations on cooperation between the Fund and the banks in joint lending for projects; the process and procedure of guarantee and method of determining the level of assistance to post-investment interest rate for projects in the categories stipulated in Decree No. 43/1999/ND-CP of June 29, 1999 of the Government, including interest rate support for the projects with foreign currency loans.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall coordinate with the Vietnam State Bank and the ministries and branches in determining key projects for foreign exchange loans at a level of about 200 million USD from the commercial banks according to the mechanism laid down in Decision No. 118/1999/QD-TTg of May 4, 1999 of the Prime Minister for the import of new materials and equipment in the domains of electricity, petroleum, civil aviation, cement... The lending entities shall have to evaluate and balance the fund for each project. The Vietnam State Bank shall integrate into a report to the Prime Minister for examination and decision projects requiring fund borrowings. To study the provision of loans to the Oil and Gas Corporation for making investment abroad.

III. FINANCIAL AND CREDIT SOLUTIONS

1. The Ministry of Finance shall coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the concerned agencies in revising the State budget revenues, actively combat losses of revenues so as to increase revenues by 3,000 - 4,000 billion VND over the target set at the beginning of the year. This increase of revenues shall be used to increase investment fund, to pay lump-sum allowances to people with meritorious services to the revolution, to provide housing supports to those engaged in revolutionary activities prior to 1945, to subsidize losses in fuel import, to supplement capital for the enterprises, increase financial reserve and other payment obligations already decided by the Prime Minister.

2. As from August 15, 2000, to temporarily suspend the collection of tax on wholesale trade of farm produce in order to promote goods circulation and the consumption of farm produce.

3. The People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall adjust the price of paddy for the calculation of agricultural land tax suitable to the market price.

4. The Ministry of Finance is assigned the task of coordinating with the Ministry of Planning and Investment in studying and submitting to the Prime Minister the regime of reward aimed at encouraging the enterprises to operate efficiently, pay ever higher enterprise income tax year after year in conformity with current legislation.

5. To closely manage the State budget expenditures, and to practice thrift. To intensify the supervision of construction at the capital construction projects aimed at ensuring quality and combating wastefulness and negativism. To promulgate the pilot mechanism of administrative spending package, the mechanism of budget assistance to the non-business organizations having revenues such as hospitals, universities, research institutes...

6. Regarding the mechanism of guarantee for the loans, pending guidance and organization for implementation by the concerned ministries and branches, the Vietnam State Bank shall coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches in guiding the credit organizations to implement a number of prescriptions in Decree No. 178/1999/ND-CP of December 29, 1999 of the Government on guaranteeing the loans of the credit organizations as follows:

a/ Not yet effecting the registration of security transactions for the contracts of mortgage, pledge and security until the relevant ministries and branches have set up the registration agencies and provided concrete guidance for the process and procedures for registration of security transactions.

b/ With regard to borrowers that are enterprises, when pledging property being lines of machinery and equipment which are not or not yet required by law to have a certificate of ownership, they need only papers proving that they are lawful properties, and to pledge with the credit organization that these properties belong to the ownership or the right to use of the enterprises and are free from dispute.

c/ With regard to the enterprises that are allocated land or that lease land and are eligible to make pledges for borrowing loans from the banks as stipulated by the legislation on land, but not yet granted land use right certificates, the credit organization is entitled to base itself on the decision on land allocation or the land lease contract, or the certificate of payment of land use to make the loans.

d/ With regard to the State enterprises which have not met the conditions of "profitable production and business for two consecutive years", the credit organizations are still allowed to provide them loans without property security if these enterprises do not fall into the category of weak enterprises according to the rating by the Government, the ministries, branches and localities having investment projects, and if they have efficacious production and business projects, if they have overcome losses in a given time-limit and are recognized as such by the lending credit organizations; the credit organizations are also allowed to provide loans without property security to foreign investment enterprises which sustain losses according to plan because they have operated in Vietnam for not more than 3 years.

e/ To allow the application of the rate of self-procured capital in participating in the project and the value of properties guaranteeing the loans by pledge and mortgage stipulated in Decree No. 178/1999/ND-CP of December 29, 1999 of the Government at the minimum rate of 30% of the investment capital of the project.

7. The Vietnam State Bank shall direct the commercial banks to consider the raising of the level of loan without property security to more than 10 million VND for the farmer households engaged in agricultural production, aquaculture and farm commodity economy provided that the borrowers have effective production plans and are capable of paying debts to the banks.

8. To broaden the range of foreign currency borrowers compared to the eligible subjects in Decree No. 63/1998/ND-CP of August 17, 1998 of the Government on the management of foreign exchange in order to promote the lending of foreign currencies to import-export enterprises with efficient business operations and capable of retrieving foreign currencies, and individual laborers who need to borrow fund to go and work abroad.

9. The Vietnam State Bank shall direct the Bank for the Poor to supplement the lending mechanism and well organize the lending to the poor households; the People’s Committees at all levels shall not collect certification fees for all kinds dossiers for borrowing capital from the Bank for the Poor of the poor households.

IV. SOCIAL SOLUTIONS

3. The Ministry of Culture and Information shall direct the carrying out of the approved press planning; appraise the situation of managing publication and press work and take measures to strengthen the State management in this domain; to continue the inspection of cultural service activities and business in cultural products in the whole country.

Specialized agencies shall have to intensify their management and step up the service of information to foreign audience in the spirit of Directive No. 10/2000/CT-TTg of April 26, 2000 of the Prime Minister.

4. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall assume the prime responsibility and together with the concerned ministries and branches supplement and amend the guidance for lending by the National Employment Fund and set up the fund to settle the job problem in the localities in the direction of broadening the range of borrowers, simplifying the fund borrowing procedures in order to step up the disbursement of the National Program for Employment; to take measures to step up the export of labor and experts and to strengthen the management and raise the sense of responsibility of the ministries, branches, localities and units in the export of labor, build the mechanism of State management on training labor for export; to strengthen and raise the quality of job training and build the planning of the network of job training establishments at the center and the localities; to set forth policies toward the redundant labor due to the reorganization of the State enterprises; to coordinate with the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the ministries and the branches and related agencies in organizing and campaigning for a "workday for the poor" (October 17) each year; to continue implementing the program of eradicating hunger and alleviating poverty and the criteria of poor households applied in the years 2001-2005, to study amendments and supplements to a number of policies on labor and social insurance to make them suitable to the present situation.

6. To pay the lump-sum allowances to the persons with meritorious services to the revolution according to Ordinance No.19/2000/PL-UBTVQH10 of February 4, 2000 of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly; to provide housing supports to the persons engaged in revolutionary activities prior to 1945 according to Decision No. 20/2000/QD-TTg of February 3, 2000 of the Prime Minister.

8. To continue implementing the prevention and fight against HIV/AIDS and drug abuse, prostitution, with special importance given to the elaboration of program of action to prevent and fight against drug abuse, and the program of action to prevent and fight against prostitution in the period 2001-2005. After the Standing Committee of the National Assembly has decided to amend the Ordinance on the Handling of Administrative Violations, speedy steps must be taken to amend and supplement Decree No. 20/CP of April 13, 1996 of the Government in the direction of reducing the procedures of considering and approving the sending of drug addicts to detoxication centers, reducing the age of addicts forced to go to detoxication centers and prolonging the time of forcible detoxication, thus creating conditions for better detoxication. To organize and upgrade the concentrated detoxication centers combined with detoxication at the community; to combine education with labor, job training and job creation...

The agencies and units having addicted officials and employees must resolutely persuade them and create conditions for them to detoxicate at their own will. After a given time, if they fail to quit drugs, they shall be forced out of the State payroll.

9. The Ministry of Communications and Transport, the Ministry of Public Security and the local administrations at various levels must take active and efficient measures to reduce traffic accidents.

10. The administrations at various levels shall have to concentrate on settling complaints of the population. The State Inspectorate together with the Government Office shall review the situation of complaints and denunciations in the last two years, clarify the real situation and causes and propose measures of remedy. For cases to which solutions have been decided by the Prime Minister, the State Inspectorate and the Government Office shall have to check the result of the implementation, appraise the implementation by the administrations at various levels, report to the Prime Minister and propose measures to seriously deal with those who have not fulfilled their responsibilities, thus letting the cases drag on.

With regard to the collective, complicated and prolonged suits, the State Inspectorate shall assume the prime responsibility and propose to the Prime Minister to set up a joint delegation to inquire and supervise the settlement, to classify the cases in order to take appropriate solutions.

The administrations at all levels shall have to seriously observe law, the instructions of the higher levels, and seriously carry out the Statute on Democracy at the grassroots.

On behalf of the Government
Prime Minister
PHAN VAN KHAI