Many important issues handled at parliament’s second session

Hanoi (VNA) – Many issues of national importance were dealt with during the second session of the 14th National Assembly (NA), NA Deputy Secretary-General Le Bo Linh said at a press conference following the session’s closing plenum on November 23.

Linh, who is also Vice Chairman of the NA Office, said during 26 days of working, the parliament approved the Law on Belief and Religion, the Law on Property Auction, the law on amendments and supplements to Article 6 and Appendix 4 on the list of conditional business lines in the Investment Law, along with 11 resolutions.

As opinions about the draft Law on Associations and the draft law revising and supplementing some articles of the 2015 Penal Code remained different, the NA agreed to delay the approval of those bills.

It assigned the NA Standing Committee to direct drafting boards to work with verification agencies to continue amending the drafts so that they can be considered at the third session, slated for May 2017.

He noted that at the second setting, deputies also commented on 14 other draft laws such as those on railway, irrigation, tourism, State asset management and use, foreign trade management, and technology transfer. Many voters urged for these bills to be promulgated or revised to address existing flaws.

Giving more details on the halt to the Ninh Thuan nuclear power plant project, NA Secretary-General Nguyen Hanh Phuc said at the sixth session in November 2009, the 13th NA approved a resolution on investing in the project. Several relevant works have been carried out such as site clearance, resident resettlement, and facility construction.

However, the domestic and international situation have changed since then while Vietnam’s scientific and technological level remains inappropriate for developing nuclear power.

Additionally, the project’s economic benefits cannot be ensured anymore as the production cost of nuclear power is now higher than that of other energy sources. Oil prices were at about 100 USD each barrel in 2009 but have dropped to some 50 USD at present.

More than 95 percent of the NA deputies approved the Government’s proposal of cancelling the project, he noted.

At the second session, the parliament received more than 2,400 opinions and petitions sent by people nationwide while deputies also raised about 100 questions for the Prime Minister and four ministers during two and a half days of question & answer sessions.

The problems raised at the hearings were of public concern, Phuc said, adding that the NA assigned its agencies to supervise the handling of those issues.-VNA