Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc directed to pay more attention to culture.

On the afternoon of May 31, at the Government headquarters, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc chaired the regular Government meeting in May 2019. From the fact that the National Assembly mentioned the issue of paying more attention to culture, the Prime Minister said that this is an issue that has been mentioned by the Government many times, but many Party committees and authorities have not really paid attention. If we only focus on the economy and not on cultural development, at some point the economy will stop due to the impact of culture.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting.

Speaking at the opening of the session, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that National Assembly deputies had positive assessments of the implementation of the country's socio-economic tasks in 2018 and the first months of 2019 under the direction and management of the Government. However, the Prime Minister said that the National Assembly also raised a number of issues that need to be resolved, so ministries and branches must seriously listen, absorb, clarify the issues, and correct any issues to better serve the people.

“Through the discussion of the National Assembly, we see that the delegates raised the issue of continuing sustainable development in Vietnam, harmonizing the economy and culture. We have talked about this issue for a long time, but this session of the National Assembly shows even more clearly that we need to pay more attention to culture. If we only focus on the economy and not on cultural development, at some point the economy will stop due to the impact of culture. That is the issue of ethics, qualities, living environment, other social relations... We talk about the economic - social - environmental triangle, the economy develops well, the environment is focused on, but clearly culture is an issue that has not received much attention from the Party and government system, especially ethics and lifestyle have many shortcomings" - the Prime Minister emphasized.

Assessing the work in May, the Prime Minister said that the preparations for the 2019 Vesak Festival were well done, helping the Festival to be very successful with the participation of about 20,000 international delegates, including many heads of state who attended and gave good assessments of the organization. The Government has also prepared well the contents to serve the ongoing National Assembly session with high responsibility. Some areas achieved positive results such as attracting foreign investment, registering new businesses, foreign affairs...

The Prime Minister also said that international organizations still rank Vietnam in the "brightest" group among developing countries. In particular, Standard Chartered forecasts that Vietnam will be among the 7 economies with 7% growth by 2030. Global credit rating agency Fitch has upgraded Vietnam's economic outlook from "stable" to "positive". International credit rating agencies have upgraded Vietnam's national credit rating from BB- to BB...

However, the Prime Minister pointed out the shortcomings in the prevention and control of African swine fever. Emphasizing that this is a serious problem and that there is still subjectivity among sectors and localities, the Prime Minister directed ministries, sectors and localities to resolutely implement the direction of the Secretariat and the Government's direction. Because if the total pig herd is reduced by 30%, agricultural growth will be 0%.

The Prime Minister also reminded ministries and sectors about the possibility of surplus goods from other countries entering the Vietnamese market. Some sectors saw slower growth and a large trade deficit in May.

Regarding the issue of public investment disbursement, the Prime Minister directed that public investment capital has not improved in disbursement. Many ministries and units only say it verbally, but all have decreased compared to the same period last year in disbursement. “Some project categories have delayed procedures for starting construction. It is now June and the disbursement situation is like this, it is dire. I would like to say that if something is not prohibited and the private sector can do it, then create conditions for the private sector to do it. If the State cannot complete the procedures, then use the money to do other things. There is also the issue of investment portfolios, but it is not just about empty portfolios. Of course, on this issue, the Government has submitted to the National Assembly a draft to amend the Law on Public Investment.”

The Prime Minister also noted the current situation of plastic waste, including Vietnam's plastic waste, and urged Vietnam not to become a major ocean plastic waste dumping ground. He also commended some localities such as Hanoi and Thua Thien - Hue for responding to this policy and launching a number of programs to not use plastic bags and limit plastic waste.

To address the tasks of June and the remaining months of the year, the Prime Minister requested ministries and sectors to correctly assess the domestic and international situation. In particular, global economic and trade growth is forecast to continue to decline and reach its lowest level since 2010. In the first quarter of 2019, global trade increased by only 0.75%. The world merchandise trade index was at 96.3, the lowest since 2010.

In addition, the trade war continues to be unpredictable and continues to drag on. OECD stated that if the US-China trade conflict continues, and the US imposes a 25% tax on all Chinese goods, US GDP could fall by 0.6%, China's GDP could fall by 0.8%, global trade could fall by 1%, and GDP could fall by at least 0.4%...

Assessing that these factors will impact the implementation of domestic tasks, the Prime Minister said that in the direction and management work, we must be alert, decisive, and enhance our sense of responsibility in performing our tasks. Along with that, we must focus more on science and technology, innovation, high intellectual content or added value.