RESOLUTION

THE GOVERNMENT'S REGULAR MEETING - DECEMBER 2006

On December 26-27, 2006, the Government convened its regular meeting of December to discuss and decide the following issues:

1. The Government agreed to the following statements: review of the Government direction and governance in 2006 and its agenda in 2007 by the Minister-Chair of the Government Office; socio-economic development in December and the full year of 2006 by the Minister of Planning and Investment; trade in December and the full year of 2006 by the Minister of Trade; issuance of Government bonds and investment therefrom by the Minister of Finance; administrative reform results in 2006 and central tasks in 2007 by the Minister of Internal Affairs; and performance of the Government action plan to enforce the Corruption Act by the Chief Inspector.

In 2006, the Government showed its devotion to direction and governance that closely followed the Communist Party and National Assembly's resolutions. Government members proved themselves to be unified, dynamic, close to the public and consistent on any aspect of work. This helped to bring about improvements in economic development and social life. The national economy sustained high growth with almost socio-economic targets on or past targets set by the National Assembly. Economic restructuring proceeded well. Macroeconomic balances were ensured. Domestic trade and services continued expansion. Export revenues and inwards investment reached all-time highs. The inflation was kept under control. Improvements were seen in science and technology, education and training, culture and information, vocational training, healthcare, physical education and sports, poverty reduction and other social areas. The mass population's life got better off. The administrative reform was boosted towards publicized, transparent and simplified procedures. The fight against corruption was paid attention to and yielded initial results. National defense and security was maintained while the political and social orders were kept secure. External service achieved significant achievements, helping to raise the national publicity and status in the international arena. All this has created new posture and energy for the 2007 tasks and strengthened the public confidence in the national renovation drive under the Party's leadership and the Government regulation.

However, the Government’s direction and governance as well as the administrative apparatus were still flawed, consequently leading to socio-economic development below expectation. Despite some improvements in growth quality, growth sustainability was still low and national competitiveness, so poor. There was little change to many burning social issues. Infrastructure and human sources for socio-economic development and public administration fail to meet practical demand.

In 2007, to fulfill the socio-economic development targets set in various National Assembly resolutions against the existing difficulties and challenges, the Government determines to make it a must to be aggressive, consistent and efficient in carrying out tasks and solutions set in the 10th Party Congress Resolution and other National Assembly resolutions with the aim of achieving a high and sustainable economic growth, robust expansions in agriculture and rural development, education and training, and science and technology, fruitful dealing with urgent matters in cultural, social, environmental and poverty reduction areas, faster administrative reform and stronger fight against corruption and wasteful spending, and ensured national defense and security.

The Government demands ministries and local authorities to promptly craft action plans and quickly start 2007 agendas. The immediate tasks are to delegate plans and budget grants; carry out measures to promote production and business across the board; deliver on international commitments; be active in tackling droughts, natural calamities and controlling diseases and epidemics in livestock and crops, especially rice; maintain macro-economic stability and primary economic balances; tighten control over joint-stock banks, investment funds and stock markets; prepare market price controls, prevent inflation in prices of essentials while trying to expand domestic trade, cut production costs, strengthen inspection to tackle smuggling and trade frauds, and take drastic actions on administrative reform, infrastructure building, and legal education meant to control and minimize traffic accidents.

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The fight against corruption must be substantial with more institutions, policies and legal legislation quickly set out and more organizations involved in fighting corruption all levels quickly installed. The focus now is on starting to bring into life the resolution of the 10th Party Central Committee's 3rd Plenum on greater Party commitment to the fight against corruption and wasteful spending. Discovering and tackling corruption must go hand in hand with prevention with the latter being primary. Standard codes of behavior for officials and public servants will be set and put in place to keep them honest at work. Strict punishments will be meted out to heads of agencies where corruption and wasteful spending is found to exist. The inspection, audit and tackling corruption cases will be intensified, particularly in potential areas such as investment, land management, budgeting and public assets.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Government Office shall take input from Government members and other participants to the meeting to draft a resolution on principal measures to take for the 2007 agenda, the report on Government performance in 2006 and the 2007 Government agenda for submission to a later meeting between the Government and leaders of provinces countrywide.

2. The Government agreed to establish the Corruption Board at provincial level.

The board is headed by the Chair of the provincial People's Committee and has a standing advisory team working full-time.

The board's functions, duties, organization and code of practice are defined by the PM.

3. The Government authorized the Ministry of National Defense to build border policing roads under the special regimes as follows:

The Ministry is allowed to use military engineers and builders to carry out the project through selection of contractors. In case there is not enough equipment to build big bridges, they are permitted to outsource non-military businesses but must organize bids for contractors in line with the current regulations.

The Ministry will receive annual budget grants for the project and be responsible for managing the funding in line with the Act on State Budget.

Based on the cost estimate approved by the concerned authority, the Ministry is permitted to set aside part of the after-tax profits of the military builders and part of the value difference of the contracted engineer units to procure and renew equipment for the military engineers. The ministries of Finance, Planning and Investment and National Defense will consider the set-aside proportion and report to the Prime Minister for approval.

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ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT
PRIME MINISTER




Nguyen Tan Dung