The 13th National Assembly closed its fourth session in Hanoi on November 23 after deciding a number of crucial issues and passing nine important bills.

The closing ceremony was attended by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Truong Tan Sang and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, among others.

In his closing remarks, National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung said the live television and radio broadcast of almost all activities in the session’s working agenda makes the performance of State agencies and employees more open and transparent to the public.

He stressed that 2013 is a transitional year for the country to begin a new development phase with new requirements for economic growth and solving social problems.

The deputies unanimously defined goals for the year that will provide a foundation for the country to grow sustainably in the coming years.

The goals include stabilising the macro-economy, keeping inflation lower but boosting economic growth higher than those in 2012, speeding up the implementation of adopted strategic breakthroughs to restructure the national economy and change its growth model, improving the effectiveness of external activities and international integration, reinforcing defence and security and ensuring social welfare and socio-political stability.

The deputies passed nine bills and commented on six others to ensure that they keep abreast with reality.

Approving amendments and supplements to the Law on Corruption Prevention and Control, the deputies also agreed that the fight against corruption will be long, rough and complicated.

They shared the view that amending and supplementing the 1992 Constitution is crucial for the entire Party and people to fortify a political-legal foundation to serve the nation in the new development stage.

The amendments and supplements will be made public to garner people’s comments from January 2, 2013 and tabled for approval by the NA by the end of the year.

At this session, the deputies passed a resolution on conducting votes of confidence on officials elected or approved by the NA and People’s Councils.

According to NA Chairman Hung, the resolution constitutes an important change in the national political life and brings the people’ mastery to a higher level./.VNA