The bill was tabled for discussion at the sixth session of the current National Assembly in Hanoi late last year, and later revised by the National Assembly Committee for Defense and Security in collaboration with the bill drafting agency.

The legal document, which was built on the 2003 Ordinance on Industrial Mobilization and the 2008 Ordinance on National Defense Industry, will be debated at the upcoming session of the National Assembly Standing Committee before it is submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at its seventh session due to take place in May 2024.

According to the National Assembly Chairman, this is a difficult law project because it has been drafted from the two Ordinances that were passed long ago.

Recent practical developments require Vietnam to have a law on national defense industry, security, and industrial mobilization to institutionalize the Party’s new guidelines and promptly address shortcomings in order to meet the requirements and tasks of building and developing the defense industry and industrial mobilization, said Hue.

He recalled that in a resolution on speeding up national industrialization and modernization to 2030 with a vision to 2045 adopted in November 2022, the Party Central Committee held that Vietnam would develop the national defense industry and the security industry in the direction of dual use, modernity and self-reliance, closely linked with the civilian industry and becoming the spearhead of the national industry.

The resolution stresses the need to promote technology transfer between the civilian industry and the defense industry to form a number of shared innovation platforms; increase cooperation and investment; and restructure defense industry facilities.

For its importance, Hue said the bill if approved would have many specific and outstanding policies to strengthen and consolidate the development of the national defense industry and security industry, while promoting the country’s economic potential.

He requested that the National Assembly Committee for Defense and Security, in collaboration with the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Public Security and relevant agencies, gather opinions and make revisions before submitting the legal document to competent authorities.

VOV