Many contents were discussed at the 37th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan chaired and delivered the opening speech at the 37th session of the National Assembly Standing Committee. Photo: Trong Duc/VNA

On the morning of September 9, at the National Assembly House, under the chairmanship of National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan, the National Assembly Standing Committee opened the 37th session.

In her opening speech, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan stated that the National Assembly Standing Committee held the 37th Session to give opinions on the contents submitted to the National Assembly at the 8th Session and conduct thematic supervision, consider and decide on a number of issues under the authority of the National Assembly Standing Committee.

Specifically, the National Assembly Standing Committee will review and comment on 12 draft laws, including 4 draft laws that will be submitted to the National Assembly for comments and approval, and 8 draft laws that will be submitted to the National Assembly for comments for the first time; 2 draft resolutions submitted to the National Assembly at the 8th Session, including the Resolution on handling tax arrears for taxpayers who are no longer able to pay the State budget and the Resolution on approving the Overall Project on investment in socio-economic development in ethnic minority, mountainous and areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions for the period 2021 - 2025.

The overall project on investment in socio-economic development in ethnic minority, mountainous and especially difficult socio-economic areas for the 2021-2025 period is a major project to integrate all policies that the Party and State have issued for ethnic minorities and implement them according to resolutions and policies of the National Assembly.

Along with that, the National Assembly Standing Committee will give opinions on the allocation and use of increased revenue from the central budget in 2018; the necessity of issuing a Resolution of the National Assembly on the management and use of revenue from divestment and equitization of state-owned enterprises; on the Government's Decree regulating customs procedures, customs inspection and supervision of goods in transit through the ASEAN Customs Transit System to implement Protocol 7 on the Customs Transit System; reports on the judicial field, auditing activities and other important reports; and preparations for the 8th Session of the National Assembly.

The supervision topic that the National Assembly Standing Committee will conduct at this session is "Implementation of policies and laws on the implementation of the national target program on sustainable poverty reduction in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2012 - 2018."

At this session, the National Assembly Standing Committee will consider and decide on the establishment and adjustment of administrative boundaries in the three provinces of Quang Ninh, Hai Duong and Lao Cai.

The National Assembly Chairman said that, implementing the conclusion announcement of the National Assembly Standing Committee at the 36th Session, agencies have been more active in preparing content for the 37th Session. However, there are still some documents that have not been sent on time. The National Assembly Chairman asked agencies to take note and learn from experience.

Emphasizing that the amount of work that needs to be considered and decided by the National Assembly Standing Committee at the 37th Session is very large, with many important contents, especially the contents that will be presented to the National Assembly at the 8th Session, and the meeting time is very long, the National Assembly Chairman requested the National Assembly Standing Committee to focus, manage flexibly and scientifically so as not to extend to the 3rd working week; relevant agencies should proactively arrange their work schedules to attend the meeting fully and with the right composition.

On the draft Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the Law on Dikes.

Immediately after the opening speech of the National Assembly Chairman, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the Law on Dikes, under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Phung Quoc Hien.

Comments at the meeting were generally in agreement with the need to amend and supplement a number of articles of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the Law on Dikes; and highly appreciated the reports and submissions of the Government and the review report of the agency reviewing the draft law. Comments said that this is a draft law that attracts the attention of voters and people, because the consequences of natural disasters directly affect people.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan requested the drafting agency to carefully review the draft law and related laws in the legal system, especially the Law on Militia and Self-Defense Forces, the State Budget Law, the Public Investment Law, etc. to ensure consistency, uniformity, and no overlap.

The regulations related to policies set out in the draft law also need to be more specific and clear, for example, regulations on training policies to improve capacity for forces participating in natural disaster prevention and control; what is the medium-term plan; it is necessary to establish a Central Natural Disaster Prevention and Control Fund to receive international support for Vietnam's natural disaster prevention and control work, but it must be researched to suit reality, and at the same time, there must be a mechanism to regulate from places with large revenue but less natural disasters to the Central Fund to allocate to localities with many natural disasters but less revenue appropriately. The National Assembly Chairman noted the need to remove regulations that create new licenses in the draft law.

In addition, opinions also suggested that the bill should have principled provisions on having a focal point for mobilizing resources, avoiding dispersion and waste of resources, avoiding over-collection or arbitrary collection; reviewing types of natural disasters to be reasonable; researching the feasibility and effectiveness of new projects added in the bill such as anti-saltwater intrusion projects, lightning protection projects, etc.

Speaking at the meeting, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Xuan Cuong thanked the National Assembly Standing Committee for its opinions, and reviewed the extreme weather situations that have occurred and the practice of responding to natural disasters in recent times, to reaffirm the need to amend the Law on Dikes and the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control.

Explaining the proposal to establish a Central Disaster Prevention and Control Fund, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that Vietnam is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Therefore, the international community is eager to support Vietnam in responding to climate change and preventing and controlling natural disasters. However, because there is no central fund, it must be received in the form of ODA aid with very slow disbursement procedures.

Currently, 61/63 provinces and cities across the country have established funds and have attracted thousands of billions of VND. The establishment of the fund at the central level is to receive international support sources to allocate directly to the provinces; the apparatus is part-time so it does not create additional staff.

Regarding the three proposed projects to be added to the bill, Minister Nguyen Xuan Cuong said that lightning protection projects are added to be built in specific areas with a lot of lightning, ensuring safety for the entire residential area, while lightning rods are only specific measures for each construction project. Anti-flood works have been built in many countries around the world. That is, building comb-shaped projects in areas with good geology to block rolling boulders, causing great damage when there is a flood. Anti-salt intrusion projects are also very necessary in the current real-life situation...

Concluding this working session, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Phung Quoc Hien emphasized that this is the first time the National Assembly Standing Committee has commented on the draft Law on Amendments and Supplements to a Number of Articles of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention and Control and the Law on Dikes. The National Assembly Standing Committee requested the drafting agency to absorb the initial comments of the National Assembly Standing Committee and the examining agency, complete the draft law dossier so that the examining agency can conduct an official examination, and submit it to the National Assembly for comments at the 8th Session when conditions are met.