Members of the Vietnam Journalists’ Association gathered in Hanoi on March 26 to give opinions to the draft revised 1992 Constitution.

Participants at the event agreed with nine basic contents of the amendment of the 1992 Constitution. They also showed their interest in the freedom of speech and journalism.

After three months of gathering opinions, the association has received over 400 comments to the draft revised 1992 Constitution.

On the same day, the Communist Party of Vietnam ( CPV ) online newspaper held an online dialogue, aiming to strengthen the popularisation and communications on gathering citizen’s opinions to the draft amended Constitution.

Themed “Mobilising the intellect of the entire Party, people and army in building the Constitution,” the dialogue attracted the participation of numerous scholars and state officials.

Deputy Minister of Justice Hoang The Lien said the Committee on Drafting Amendments to the 1992 Constitution has so far received nearly 15 million opinions to all contents of the Constitution, mainly focusing on human rights, fundamental rights and duties of citizens, political regime, economics, society, culture, education, science, technology and environment.

Overseas Vietnamese have also paid attention to the draft amended Constitution and given opinions, especially those regarding the role of the overseas Vietnamese community, their contributions to the country’s construction and defence and conditions for their promotion of national tradition and cultural identity, said Le Minh Thong, Deputy Head of the National Assembly’s Law Committee.

The dialogue was applauded by readers with hundreds of questions focusing on basic contents of the draft revised Constitution and the way to collect opinions.

They highlighted the role the media plays in popularising the gathering of opinions and encouraging people to give their opinions, while combating attempt of hostile forces to distort policies and guidelines of the Party and State.

Also on March 26, the Ministry of Home Affairs held a conference to give comments on the draft revised 1992 Constitution.

Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Thai Binh emphasised the necessity to amend the 1992 Constitution, which will meet the requirements in the period of national industrialisation and modernisation as well as international integration.

Participants at the conference agreed that preeminence can be seen in the draft amendments to the Constitution, dealing with matters arising in the real situation of the country after over 20 years of renewal, while strongly affirming and broadening human rights.-VNA