Laws of Vietnam

DIRECTIVE No. 658-TTg OF AUGUST 20, 1997 ON SPEEDING UP THE EQUITIZATION OF STATE ENTERPRISES

Over the past few years, the policy to equitize a number of State enterprises has been implemented with initial results but, generally speaking, still at a slow pace. In order to continue the equitization of a number of State enterprises in an active and steady manner in the spirit of the Resolution of the VIII National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the opinion of the Politburo in Notice No. 63-TB/TW of April 4, 1997, the Prime Minister hereby gives the following instructions:

1. The Central Equitization Steering Committee shall have to review all existing documents and submit to the Government relevant amendments and supplements made thereto in the spirit of the Politburo’s guidelines. The functional ministries shall have to review already issued documents, study, make appropriate detailed adjustments and supplements, thus creating a uniform legal basis for speeding up the conversion of a number of State enterprises into stock companies.

2. The Ministries, ministerial-level agencies and the People’s Committees of various levels shall have to profoundly grasp the Party’s and Government’s viewpoint and policy on the equitization of a number of State enterprises and explain them to the people and workers in the enterprises so as to fundamentally change their perception of this policy. The Central Equitization Steering Committee shall coordinate with the concerned agencies and organizations in making all the people well aware of the benefits of investing their money in production by purchasing stocks of equitized enterprises.

3. The Ministry of Planning and Investment shall set the principles for soring out which enterprises the State should continue to hold 100% of their capital and which enterprises the State should hold prevailing shares or special shares and submit them to the Government for decision in August 1997.

On the basis of these principles, in September 1997, the ministries, the ministerial-level agencies, the agencies attached to the Government and the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government and State corporations established by the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 91-TTg of March 7, 1994 shall select and report to the Prime Minister the lists of their attached State enterprises with enough conditions for being equitized in 1997 and 1998.

4. To expeditiously strengthen and add new members to the equitization steering boards so as to promote the equitization steering work in the ministries, branches and localities. Those ministries, branches and localities having not yet set up equitization steering boards should quickly establish them in accordance with Decision No. 548-TTg of August 13, 1996 of the Prime Minister.

5. The Central Equitization Steering Committee shall make a specific plan for implementing the equitization from now to the end of 1997 and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval before the implementation thereof and assist the Prime Minister in directing the ministries and localities that have many State enterprises to carry out equitization, especially in such provinces and cities as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Haiphong, Da Nang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, and in the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Trade, etc. In the fourth quarter of 1997, a preliminary review of the equitization under Decree No. 28-CP of May 7, 1996 of the Government should be organized

6. The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, the Managing Boards of State corporations established by decision of the Prime Minister shall make implementation plans and organize the implementation according to the equitization schedule and objectives in accordance with the policies of the Party and the State. They shall have to send monthly reports to the Central Equitization Steering Committee for summing up and reporting to the Government.

7. To assign the State Securities Commission to assume the main responsibility for and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in formulating a scheme on the establishment of a stocks and bonds exchange center and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision in September 1997.

The Chairman of the Central Equitization Steering Committee, the Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, the Managing Boards of State corporations established by decision of the Prime Minister shall have to organize the direction and guidance for well implementing this Directive.

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
TRAN DUC LUONG