NA Secretary General and Chairman of the NA Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc speaks at the press conference to announce the outcomes of the parliament's third session (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The outcomes of the third session of the 14th National Assembly (NA) were announced at a press conference in Hanoi on June 21 afternoon after the sitting wrapped up earlier the same day.
Vice Secretary General of the NA and Vice Chairman of the NA Office Le Bo Linh said the NA spent most of the time discussing and approving 12 draft laws and some resolutions. It postponed the ratification of the draft law on planning, which still needs further consideration and more opinions from relevant ministries and sectors to improve its quality before the bill is submitted to the NA at the fourth session slated for October.
Legislators discussed six draft laws which aim to perfect the legal framework for thoroughly handling bad debts and poor-performing credit institutions, enhance the effectiveness of denunciation settlement and public debt management, and meet the higher requirements of the forestry and fishery sectors.
At this session, the NA carefully debated and then decided to split land withdrawal, compensation and resettlement into a component project to speed up the progress of the Long Thanh International Airport project.
It also approved the proposal of the Chief Justice of the Supreme People’s Court on the appointment of two more justices of the court, Linh noted.
The Vice Secretary General added that NA deputies evaluated the implementation of socio-economic development tasks in 2016 and the first months of 2017, and laid out solutions to carry out socio-economic development tasks in the remaining months of this year.
The legislators conducted supreme supervision over the implementation of policies and laws on food safety during the 2011-2016 period. They also adopted a resolution on the NA’s supervision programme in 2018.
At the NA’s fifth session next year, the legislature’s supreme supervision will focus on the implementation of policies and laws on the management and use of State capital and assets at enterprises, along with the equitisation of State-owned enterprises during 2011-2016.
Linh said on the three-day question and answer (Q&A) session, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen Ngoc Thien, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, and Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung fielded questions about important and pressing issues.
Regarding positive changes at the third session, NA Secretary General and Chairman of the NA Office Nguyen Hanh Phuc said in the spirit of democracy and reform, the parliament shifted from a “legislature of report” to a “legislature of debate” which can be seen in the enthusiastic debate atmosphere between deputies and Government members, and among deputies.
The third session also showed the flexibility in its chairperson’s steering activities, he said, elaborating that basing on deputies’ opinions and the workload, the chairperson decided to extend the discussion time, up to 6:30 pm. The Q&A session was also extended from 2.5 days to three days.
These reforms should be continued in the next sessions of the NA, Phuc added.-VNA
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