VietNamNet Bridge - The 13th National Assembly’s Standing Committee will consist of 18 members, including a chair and four vice chairs, NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong of the 12th National Assembly said at the opening session of the 13th NA in Hanoi on July 21.
Of the four deputies, one will be in charge of the law and judiciary field, one in the economic-financial field, one in socio-cultural field, and one in the defense-security field.

Besides the chair and vice chairs, the 13 remaining members of the NA Standing Committee will be the chairs of specialized NA committees.

The 12th NA had four vice chairs, namely Nguyen Duc Kien, Uong Chu Luu, Huynh Ngoc Son and Tong Thi Phong. Except for Mr. Kien, the three others are members of the 13th NA.

Of the 18 members of the 12th NA Standing Committee, eight were elected to the 13th NA, including Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong, the three above vice chairs, Phung Quoc Hien – Chair of the NA Committee for Finance and Budget, Truong Thi Mai – Chair of the NA Committee for Social Affairs, Ksor Phuoc – Chair of the Ethnic Group Committee and Dao Trong Thi – Chair of the NA Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children.

At the session, the NA adopted the Resolution verifying the eligibility of 500 NA deputies with 99 percent approval.

The NA was presented with a Report on a request for approval of the 2009 State Budget balance sheet by Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh.

The Government in 2009 introduced policies on tax exemption, reduction and rescheduling under the NA Resolution, in order to promote the country’s economic development and reduce taxes on 19 groups of commodities and services, contributing to preventing economic decline and increasing the State Budget collection, the report said.

Head of the NA Committee for Finance and Budget Phung Quoc Hien presented a report on verification of the 2009 State Budget balance sheet, which agreed with the main contents in Ninh’s report.

The report also pointed out shortcomings in the 2009 fiscal year policy, regarding the implementation of policies on tax exemption, reduction and rescheduling which were yet to help many small and medium-sized enterprises escape from difficulties since they could not access incentives on corporate income tax.

The NA Committee for Finance and Budget proposed the NA approve the 2009 State Budget balance sheet, which stated that total revenues stood at VND629,187, total expenditures were VND715,216 billion and overspending was VND114,422 billion, or 6.9 percent of GDP.

PV