(The meeting overview - Source: baochinhphu.vn)

Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung said the Law on Planningwas approved at the fourth session of the 14th NA in November 2017 and tookeffect on January 1, 2019.

Eight months since it was enforced, ministries, sectors and localitieshave different understandings of a number of the law’s articles, leading tosluggish planning implementation for 2021-2030.

The Government proposed the NA Standing Committee issue the resolution toexplain a number of vague articles.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung said that the Law on Planning’senforcement was key to national planning implementation. However, planning atregional, sector and local levels had faced obstacles.

After the resolution was approved, the Government would instruct sectors andlocalities to overcome the obstacles, he said, adding that planningworkload was huge with new projects, from marine planning, land use planning tolocal and national planning.

Lawmakers at the meeting proposed the Government issues a set of rules andsteps to implement planning at national and local level to avoid overlaps.

The NAspent the afternoon discussing a report which reviews the policies on managingand using off-budget financial funds.

Adecision to issue a decree on supervising the use and management of these fundswas made as the result of the discussion.

Athorough review of all of these funds, spent between 2013-2018, will beconducted by the Government to evaluate performance, from which rearrangementand merging of the funds might take place, according to NA Vice Chairman PhungQuoc Hien.

Thedecision was made following the presentation of the report by Nguyen Duc Hai, Chairmanof the NA’s Finance-Budget Committee, which found there had not been a consistentflow of management of these funds at both the central and local levels ofauthority across the country.

Thefinancial resources used to establish these funds were not strong enough tomake sure they can function without support from the State budget, according tothe report.

Therewere also overlaps between the functions and missions of the funds, leading totheir poor performance, the report said.

Based onthese findings, Hai proposed the NA issues a decree to better manage thesefunds, and terminate unnecessary and non-performing ones.

Stressingthe importance of the reviewing process, Le Thi Nga, Chairwoman of the NA’sJudicial Committee, said there was a loophole in the 2015 Law on State Budget.

The lawregulated that these funds are ‘independent from the State budget’, butprovided only general guidance on defining their functions. A legal corridor tomanage them has not been established, she said.

Readingthe report by the NA’s Finance-Budget Committee, NA chairwoman Nguyen Thi KimNgan pointed out there were some 100 legal documents allowing the establishmentand regulating the functions of these funds.

Thisshows that our legal system to manage these funds is complicated, inconsistent,nontransparent and impractical, she said.-VNA