Questioning at the 3rd Session: Responding to the expectations of voters and people

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue delivers a closing speech at the question and answer session. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

On the afternoon of June 9, the National Assembly completed the question and answer session of the 3rd Session, 15th tenure in a democratic and frank atmosphere with a high sense of responsibility and constructiveness, and was a great success.

Clarify difficult, complex issues that need to be resolved soon

At the 3rd Session, the National Assembly selected 4 groups of fields for questioning, including: Agriculture and Rural Development; Finance; Banking; Transport. The questions were all difficult and complicated issues, relevant to real life, of interest to voters and public opinion nationwide, and expected to be resolved soon.

Regarding the field of agriculture and rural development, the content raised by delegates at the question and answer session focused on hot issues such as: The situation of fake fertilizers, fake pesticides, fake animal feed; increasing the value of Vietnamese agricultural products; controlling prices of agricultural materials; high-tech agricultural development models; the issue of building international markets for Vietnamese agricultural products; the implementation of Resolution No. 67/ND-CP on a number of policies for fisheries development, creating favorable conditions for fishermen to borrow capital to build large-capacity ships, and go offshore to exploit aquatic products.

The group of financial issues also "heated up" the parliament because this is an important field, related to holding the "purse" and "treasury" of the country and has an important role in the socio-economic development of the country.

Delegates raised questions about many hot, even very hot issues that are being closely followed by public opinion and voters nationwide, such as: Activities of the capital market, securities, corporate bonds, solutions to rectify and handle violations, especially the situation of manipulation, price fixing, providing distorted, unverified, inaccurate information affecting the market; the situation of donated cars in recent times; the issue of textbook prices, gasoline prices...

In the question and answer session related to the banking sector, delegates focused on issues such as: Implementation of the National Assembly's resolutions on restructuring credit institutions, handling weak commercial banks associated with handling bad debts; implementation status and solutions to accelerate the implementation of Resolution No. 43/2022/QH15 on fiscal and monetary policies to support the economic and social recovery and development program under the State Bank's state management responsibility; credit and interest rates for small and medium-sized enterprises; coordination of fiscal policies on inflation control and strengthening the macroeconomic foundation.

In the banking sector, the parliament was lively when delegates raised questions related to the mechanism of granting annual credit limits to commercial banks; solutions to remove difficulties for microfinance institutions; the current situation and solutions to prevent and combat black credit and high-tech crimes in the monetary and credit sectors; credit management and control in the fields of securities lending, real estate and corporate bond issuance; legal corridors for lending via websites...

In the group of issues on the transport sector, the atmosphere of questioning and debate was heated as delegates repeatedly asked questions and actively debated the status of important national projects and works, and transport projects using the state budget, most of which were behind schedule.

The delay in the progress of important transport projects has increased the total investment from 1.5 to 2.5 times or more compared to the initial total investment, reducing investment efficiency. The current situation and solutions to handle the backlog in investment, exploitation and business of transport projects under the BOT form...

After 2.5 days of questioning, 266 National Assembly deputies registered to participate in the questioning session; 131 National Assembly deputies participated in the questioning session, of which 34 deputies asked questions to the Deputy Prime Minister; 28 National Assembly deputies debated to clarify issues of concern to the deputies.

Ho Chi Minh City National Assembly delegate Nguyen Thi Hong Hanh questions. (Photo: Phuong Hoa/VNA)

For National Assembly deputies who asked questions but did not have time to conduct the questioning and 133 deputies who registered but did not have time to question because the time ran out, the National Assembly Chairman suggested sending questions to the Prime Minister and members of the Government for written answers.

It can be seen that these are all burning issues of life, which are being followed with special attention by voters and people, as National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue clearly stated: "Stick closely to objective reality, listen to the breath of life."

Democratic, frank, direct

Following the 2.5 days of questioning, it can be seen that all 4 areas were questioned frankly and directly by the delegates, with back and forth exchanges. The questions that the National Assembly delegates brought to the parliament showed the responsibility of those entrusted by the people to speak up their aspirations on their behalf. And through the process of questioning and answering questions between the delegates and the Ministers, "Commanders" of the industry, the people can monitor and evaluate the capacity of the Ministers, and at the same time evaluate the National Assembly delegates on issues of concern to the people.

Many times, the atmosphere in the parliament has been "hot" because National Assembly delegates did not hesitate to ask questions that are issues that cause public outrage. These are the situations of "good harvest, low prices," and the congestion of agricultural exports at the northern border gates that occur regularly every year, causing many economic and social losses; these are issues surrounding "agriculture, farmers, and rural areas."

Or at the question-and-answer session on financial issues, delegates repeatedly asked questions and actively debated with Minister Ho Duc Phoc on the issue of gasoline prices; donated cars; the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance in managing the stock market, especially when recently this market has had many violations.

The frankness and democracy in the parliament were clearly demonstrated when delegate Nguyen Van Than (Thai Binh) was not satisfied with the response of the Industry Commander, so he debated and stated: "I do not agree with the Minister on gasoline prices."

According to the delegate: “Our economy is a socialist-oriented market economy, so intervening too much in gasoline prices, I think, does not operate in accordance with market prices. Let the price naturally follow the increase and decrease of world prices, if we intervene, we will only intervene to some extent.”

Delegate Truong Trong Nghia (Ho Chi Minh City) when questioning about management solutions to prevent negative consequences from the backlog of corporate bonds, also frankly said: "Have we recently been lax and are the warnings of the Ministry of Finance, as the Minister said, ineffective?"

Responding to questions, the "Commanders" of the industry also clarified and explained the issues raised by the delegates. As in the financial sector, in response to the problems of enterprises after equitization, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc not only answered questions but also "offered ideas and solutions to remove the "bottleneck" related to land in the equitization of state-owned enterprises - the source of many violations that have occurred in recent times.

The Minister has proposed solutions to direct enterprises after equitization to operate in the approved business lines, if they no longer need to use land, they must return it to the State to prevent the acquisition of land by "cover" for equitization... In particular, mentioning solutions to remove difficulties and speed up the "slow" state in the equitization and divestment process in the coming time, Minister Ho Duc Phoc said that the Ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and other ministries and branches to amend Decree 32/2018/ND-CP.

Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc answers questions. (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

The Ministers, whether they are new to answering questions like Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan, Governor of the State Bank Nguyen Thi Hong, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc or have a lot of experienceanswer questionsMinister of Transport Nguyen Van The has shown his mettle, grasped the current situation of the industry and field he is in charge of, and has been straightforward, not beating around the bush, avoiding many difficult and complicated issues; including issues that have existed through many meetings and have been answered relatively fully.

Along with the Ministers responsible for answering the main questions, Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh and Deputy Prime Ministers Le Minh Khai, Le Van Thanh and Ministers of the Ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, Industry and Trade, Science and Technology, Transport, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Information and Communications, Public Security, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, Government Inspector General, State Auditor General, Chief Justice of the Supreme People's Court, and Chief Prosecutor of the Supreme People's Procuracy also participated in answering questions, explaining, and clarifying many issues of concern to National Assembly deputies.

The question and answer session was conducted with a high sense of responsibility and seriousness, without avoiding difficult and complicated issues, explaining and clarifying many issues raised by delegates during the questioning process, while accepting responsibility for the existing shortcomings and limitations of themselves, their industry and field, and making commitments to overcome them to create positive changes in the coming time.

Synchronously deploy solutions to create positive changes

The question and answer session received approval and high appreciation from National Assembly deputies as well as voters and people nationwide. As the chair of the question and answer session, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue received high appreciation from National Assembly deputies and voters.

Delegate Pham Thi Thanh Mai (Hanoi) said that the contents that the public is interested in, the National Assembly Chairwoman has a very close grasp of, so she has made appropriate suggestions for the Ministers to answer correctly and accurately, making the National Assembly delegates very satisfied. The delegate hopes that after the question and answer session, the "bottleneck" issues will be resolved based on the specific solutions that the "Commanders" of the industry have proposed.

Pay attention and follow closely the question and answer program at3rd Session, voter Nguyen Huu Lam, veteran of Ward 15, Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City said: At the question and answer sessions, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue conducted the content very scientifically, flexibly, and thoroughly.

After each question and answer, the Chairman summarized the content of the question and answer, pointed out the contents that the Government members did not answer correctly to the National Assembly deputies' opinions, thereby suggesting additional answers.

“The activities of questioning, debating and answering questions from members of the Government and heads of relevant ministries and branches are a correct and very positive action of the National Assembly, helping to affirm the responsibility of the National Assembly as the supreme legislative body and demonstrating the role and responsibility of the National Assembly to voters nationwide,” voter Nguyen Huu Lam emphasized.

Voter Duong Ngoc An, residing in Ward 6, Tan An City, Long An Province, commented that the atmosphere of the question and answer session was very serious. The content of the questions of the National Assembly deputies was focused. The answers of the Ministers were clear and complete.

Voter Nguyen Van Hieu, Kinh Bac ward, Bac Ninh city, Bac Ninh province, said that the Chairman was very flexible in his management, allocating the question time and reasonable time between the question content and the answer content. Especially, with important questions, the Chairman of the National Assembly emphasized that the "Commanders" of the industry should study carefully and answer satisfactorily to the delegates and voters.

According to National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, throughquestioning sessionshows that the National Assembly delegates have fully grasped the principles of how to ask and answer questions, how to exchange and debate, ensuring compliance with the prescribed time, demonstrating a high sense of responsibility.

Along with that, from their practical experience, the National Assembly deputies raised questions, closely reflecting the real life developments and aspirations of voters and people with concise, specific, clear content, little overlap, with dialogue and frank, constructive debate, making maximum and effective use of time to question and clarify issues.

The National Assembly Chairman also emphasized that the developments of this question and answer session showed that the contents selected for questioning and answering questions were correct and addressed issues that have lasted for many years but have not been fully and fundamentally resolved, and many new issues have also arisen. Therefore, it met the requirements and expectations of voters, people and National Assembly deputies. The results of the question and answer session showed the receptiveness, seriousness and high responsibility of the Government, the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers and Ministers and Heads of sectors in answering questions.

In addition to the achievements, there are still many shortcomings, limitations and challenges that require high determination and breakthrough solutions to overcome in the coming time. After this session and meeting, the National Assembly requests the Government, all levels and sectors to synchronously deploy solutions to perform better, creating positive and clear changes to the issues being questioned, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stated.

Hanh Quynh