Lawmakers asked that the Government soon submit the Law on Demonstration for examination at the National Assembly Standing Committee session yesterday.

NA Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (right) speaks at the session  yesterday.  

The law, which will regulate public demonstrations, should be soon finalised to submit to the NA for consideration at the 11th meeting of the 13th NA, which is scheduled for next month, the deputies said while discussing the agenda planned for the meeting.

Deputies asked the Government to confirm whether or not this law can be contained in the 11th meeting's agendaas this was a sensitive law which drew great attention from NA deputies and voters.

Head of the NA Committee for National Defense and Security Nguyen Kim Khoa said the committee was ready to examine the draft demonstration law but the Government had not yet submitted it.

Vice NA Chairwoman Tong Thi Phong said the Politbureau had directed the making of the law. After the Government submits it, the law will be discussed by the NA Standing Committee during its 46th session next month before the opening ceremony of the 11th meeting, she said.

At the 11th meeting, scheduled to open on March 21 and end on April 9, the NA will consider and adopt seven draft laws, which were introduced to the NA during previous meetings, including the Law on Access of Information, the Law on Press, the Law on Special Consumption Tax, the Law on Tax Management and the Law on the conclusion, accession and implementation of international treaties.

Deputies also discussed a report on the State Audit Agency during the 13th NA tenure.

According to the report, presented by General Director of the State Audit of Viet Nam Nguyen Huu Van, over the past five years, the State Audit proposed conducting financial punishments worth a total of VND101 trillion (US$4.54 billion).

It also conducted audits on 106 groups and corporations and 5,285 projects.

Many deputies applauded the performance of the State Audit agency but expressed concerns about the implementation of the agency's recommendations.

They stressed that although many illegal activities were discovered after auditing, punishment of the violaters remained limited.

Chairman of the NA Law Committee Phan Trung Ly asked for further intensifying the role of the audit agency at the NA, and in public awareness, and strengthening strict sanctions against leaders of localities and offices when not following auditors' conclusions.

Praise

The government and Prime Minister's work in the 2011-2016 tenure was praised by the National Assembly Standing Committee in the report into their performance, during its ongoing 45th session in Ha Noi on the same day.

The committee's members hailed the government and PM for their endeavours to develop the socio-economic and cultural scenes, control inflation, stabilise the macro-economy, ensure peoples social welfare, national defence-security, improve competitiveness and international economic integration.

According to the report, 17 out of 26 targets set in the 2011-2015 plan were achieved.

The PM directed a flexible monetary policy that cut interest rates and offered affordable and quality credit to the economy in tandem with dealing with bad debts.

Thanks to the National Target Programme on New Rural Construction, rural dwellers are enjoying lives.

The government led by the Prime Minister has abided with Party leadership, the NA's resolutions, legal regulations and the democratic centralism principle.

In administrative reform, 4,471 out of 4,723 procedures, or 94.7 percent, have been simplified since 2011.

The NA Law Committee hailed the government for its efforts against corruption and wastefulness, especially in areas such as taxation and State budget. However, the report did not fully uncover the extent of the corruption problem.

Wastefulness remains in many fields, including the construction of offices and monuments, and the procurement and use of public assets.

The report pointed out several shortcomings in exercising the government's function, including the slow progress of making bills and ordinances, limited analytic and forecasting capacity, asynchronous combination of monetary, fiscal, trade and investment policies.

Several deputies suggested adding laws regarding the implementation of major schemes to improve the efficiency of the government, reshuffle ministries and ministry-level units.

Chairman of the NA Council of Ethnic Affairs Ksor Phuoc urged that the report should include problems inherited from previous tenures and solutions to dealing with them.

VNS