RESOLUTION

THE GOVERNMENT'S REGULAR MEETING - JULY 2005

On July 28 and 29, 2005, the Government held its regular meeting of July 2005 to discuss and decide on the following issues:

1. The Government listened to the Report on the program for development and application of biotechnology in agriculture and rural development by 2020.

In the recent years, biotechnology in the world has been strongly developed with outstanding achievements. In agriculture, biotechnology has brought about great fruits by creating new plants & animals, fertilizers, protection medicine of organic vegetation, vaccines for animals, finished products for processing and preserving agricultural products, solving environmental issues and so on.

Vietnam is a developing country with a high proportion of agriculture in the economy, therefore bio-technology plays a very important role. However, the application of biotechnology to agriculture in our country has been limited and at a lower level in comparison with that in other countries over the world and the region. The development and application of biotechnology has led to a break-through in the industrialization and modernization of agriculture to keep up with other countries in the world and the region in this field, created competitiveness for Vietnam's agricultural products in the international economic integration, then made a significant contribution to developing production, improving people's living conditions and protecting the environment. The study and application of biotechnology involves much concern and investment from the State, and all economic sectors.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was assigned to direct and coordinate with the Government Office and relevant agencies to receive all suggestions of Cabinet members, complete the Program, then submit to the Prime Minister for approval. The program required comments on the level of Vietnam's biotechnology and its advantages as compared to international & regional countries. From now to 2020, Vietnam will concentrate on the study of biotechnological application, simultaneously map out routes and goals of research for each specific period, work out ways of implementing set targets and define clear responsibilities of Ministries, sectors, institutes and scientists to ensure the feasibility of the Program.

2. The Government listened to a scheme of renovating tertiary education in Vietnam (2006-2020) submitted by the Minister of Education and Training.

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The Government agreed on the project and decided to set up the national steering committee for the project.

The Ministry of Education and Training was commissioned to direct and coordinate with the Government Office and relevant agencies to receive all comments of Cabinet members to fulfill the scheme in the orientation of combing tasks set in the period of 2006-2020 with concrete routes in parallel with five-year plans; supplementing in detail requirements of educating post-graduates to build human resources with high qualifications for the target of Taking a shortcut and waiting in front, mapping the measures for mobilizing all resources, engaging the whole society in tertiary education and upgrading the quality of tertiary education in Vietnam (2006-2020), then submit to the Prime Minister in August 2005.

The Government considered bills amending and supplementing some articles of the Law on special consumption tax and the Law on value added tax (VAT); Bill on cinema; Bill on trading real estates; draft ordinance on foreign exchange; and Bill on standardization.

The State Bank was assigned to direct and coordinate with the Government Office, Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies, receive all suggestions of Cabinet members to complete the Draft Ordinance on Foreign Exchange. The State Bank Governor by order of the Prime Minister will submit it to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Information and Culture, Ministry of Construction, Ministry of Science and Technology were entrusted to coordinate with the Government Office, Ministry of Justice and relevant agencies to collect opinions of the governmental members to perfect bills and ordinances directed by their own agencies, then submit to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision before submitting to the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The bill on amending and supplementing some articles relating to the Law on Special Consumption Tax and the Law on Value Added Tax was built and issued for negotiating on accession to WTO therefore the laws must be in accordance with Vietnam's commitments to other countries and international organizations, the adjustment of tariffs must not have bad impacts on the investment environment in Vietnam and must encourage investment in production and business domestically without big changes in State budget revenue.

4. The Government considered the report on results of business, production, ex-import and investment in July and socio-economic situation in the first seven months of 2005 submitted by the Ministry of Planning and Investment; report on trade in July and the first seven months in 2005 submitted by the Ministry of Trade; report on inspection in the first six months and the task of inspection in the last six months in 2005 submitted by the Government Inspectorate.

The socio-economic situation in July continued developing positively: Industrial production increased rapidly, agricultural development remained stable, the service sector better met the needs of production and people's living, the sale and price of agricultural and aqua-products improved, export kept rising, foreign investment increased fairly well, budget revenue and spending rose steadily; prices of essentials remained stable; social activities occurred constructively: the entrance examinations for universities, colleagues were well organized, preparation for the new school year was quickly made; healthcare, employment creation and preservation of traffic order and safety fared well; inspection and examination was enhanced, social security was stabilized.

During the last months of the year, in order to fulfill the target of socio-economic development in 2005, the Government requested Ministries, sectors and localities to well implement the guidance of the Government and the Prime Minister, particularly solutions stipulated in Resolution No. 01/2005/NQ-CP on January 14, 2005 by the Government and Official Telegram No. 999/TTG-KTTH on July 20, 2005 by the Prime Minister to boost production, trading, export, speed up the implementation of investment projects and the disbursement of investment capital for capital construction from the State budget, continue to attract domestic and foreign investment capital for social-economic development, control inflation, improve social activities, maintain security, national defense, social order. Ministries, sectors and localities must enhance inspection and examination towards projects for bridges, roads, irrigation and other major works, detect difficulties and hindrances during the process of implementation to have timely measures, simultaneously, proactively deal with new challenges that might arise like increasing prices of import materials, natural disasters, floods and epidemics.

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ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT
PRIME MINISTER




Phan Van Khai