The Government has issued an action plan on service sector development for the 2009-11 period, focusing on legal tools, financial sources, human resource development, the environment and natural resources.

The move calls for greater efforts to be made to finalise the relevant legal system and mobilise all available sources, both at home and abroad, to develop the economy in general and the service sector in particular.

It also emphasises the improvement of the quality of the sector’s labour force and a guarantee that the economic development of the industry will be in harmony with environmental concerns and efforts to conserve natural resources.

The above requirements will be applied to a large range of services: finance and customs procedures, banking, stock exchange, legal consultancy, trade arbitration, transport, science and technology, information and communication, employment and human resource development, distribution of goods, construction, urbanisation, real estate development, and environmental protection, as well as cultural, social, sports and tourism services.

In support of the freshly-approved move, the Ministry of Finance has been asked to finalise a export credit insurance project, and a project on diversifying access to public services and upgrading the operations of public administration agencies.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport has been entrusted to outline a development master-plan on transport and associated support services, as well as a project on express coastal passenger transport services. Other assignments for the ministry include projects for development of the Tan Son Nhat airport and the express road system.

The deadline for the Ministry of Transport projects is set for the year’s end.

The State Bank of Vietnam has been asked to design projects on launching cooperative banks, and on developing and improving the quality of management of non-banking credit operations. These projects should be finalised by 2010.

Tasks for the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs for 2010 are to map out a decade-long strategy and five year plan on employment, vocational training and poverty reduction, starting from 2011.

The ministry has also been asked to finalise a project in support of poor districts to develop labour exports in an effort to speed up poverty reduction and sustainable development for the 2009-2015 period.

The freshly-approved action plan also calls on the Ministry of Industry and Trade to develop essential commodities useful to production and daily life, focusing on oil and gas, steel for construction, fertilisers, foodstuffs, cement and medicines./.