The first session of the 13 th National Assembly is expected to open on July 21 and close on August 16, 2011.

This information was released at the 39 th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 12 th National Assembly, which opened in Hanoi on April 25 to review the results of the 12 th NA’s ninth session and discuss preparations for the first session of the 13 th NA.

During the first session, the NA will spend 14 days working on State agencies’ organisation and personnel, including electing the Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons of the NA, members of the Standing Committee, the Council of Ethnic Minorities and committees of the NA; the State President and Vice President, the Prime Minister, the Chief Judge of the Supreme People’s Court, and the Head of the Supreme People’s Procuracy.

The NA will decide on the Government’s organisational structure and approve the nominations of deputy prime ministers, ministers and other members of the Government.

The NA will spend five days discussing reports and deciding on several other important issues, including the adoption of the 2009 State budget balance.

Regarding law building work, the NA will consider approving a resolution on the 2012 law and decree-building programme and give comments to two draft laws, including the amended Water Resource Law and the Law on Tertiary Education.

Presenting a report on the results of the 12 th NA’s ninth session, Tran Dinh Dan, Head of the NA Office, said the results of the ninth session continued to affirm renovations and progress made by the 12 th NA during its four-year term.

All institutions in the State apparatus have fulfilled their tasks excellently, he said, adding that NA deputies and the public appreciated the agencies’ efforts and sense of responsibility in preparing their term summarisation reports.

On legislative work, the NA has allocated adequate time to considering and adopting three laws and contributing ideas to one bill, Dan said.

The NA deputies basically agreed with the major contents of the report. However, many of them said the report should more clearly analyse the characteristics of the current national situation, with income difficulties and increasing prices making people’s life more unstable.

Voters and people nationwide also paid attention to corruption prevention and public spending supervision, which are factors that the NA should take into account when building action programmes, they said.

The report should assess and highlight the operations of the NA and agencies in the State apparatus, as well as draw out lessons and experiences and make specific proposals in order to help the agencies to better perform their roles and responsibilities in the new tenure, the legislators said./.