The Government’s regular meeting-February 2012

RESOLUTION

The Government’s regular meeting - February, 2012

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The Government on March 5 and 6, 2012 convened its regular meeting for February, 2011 to discuss and decide the following issues:

1. Reports on: Socio-economic performance in the first two months of 2012; the implementation of the Government’s Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP on key solutions for the realization of the socio-economic development plan and State budget estimates for 2012, presented by the Minister of Planning and Investment.

The Government unanimously agreed that in February and the first two months of 2012 the socio-economic performance gained a number of positive signs, and solutions for controlling inflation and stabilizing macro-economy proved effective. The consumer price index in February only increased 1.37% compared with the figure in previous month, and up 2.38% compared with December last year, which was much lower than that of the same period last year, and it is the lowest figure in recent years. Interest rates was slightly reducing; foreign exchange market was stable. Exports increased 24.8% against the same period last year; trade déficit was equal to 4.1% of the total export value; total revenue of retail sales of goods and services went up 22%; total number of foreign visitors to  Việt Nam rose 27.1%. Social welfare and security are guaranteed; social pressing issues were paid due attention, traffic safety and order made progress, traffic accidents dropped considerablly against the same period last year; national defense and security has been enhanced, politics and soceity were stable; foreign activities contened gaining positive achievements. Administrative reform, inspection work, settlement of complaints and denunciations, anti-corruption, thrift practice and anti-wastefulness have been paid due care; institutional building has been speeding up, especially in totaling up implementation of and proposing reforms to the Constitution.

Ministries, agencies and localities actively implemented resolutions regarding missions for 2012, which were approved by the Central Party Committee, Government and National Assembly; completed the allocation of socio-economic norms and State-funded investment to grass-roots levels in accordance with the Government’s Resolution 01/NQ-CP and the Prime Minister’s Directive No. 1792/CT-TTg. The restructuring of commercial banks, businesses and public investment have gained a number of positive achievements.

However, the country is facing with emerging difficulties and challenges. Inflation, though has been put under control, still remains high amid global rising oil prices, forcing us to adjust the energy prices; interest rates are high, credit growth is shrinking, liquidity of some commercial banks is weak, capital access is limited, industrial production slowly increases, inventory is huge, input costs are high, and many factories have to curtail scale of production. The long damaging cold spells in the North seriously affected the time of rice cultivation for Spring-Winter crop, avian flu tends to expand, dry weather caused forest fire in some areas; the export of some products faced difficulties, foreign investment attraction was lower than the same period last year; a number of people are facing livelihood difficulties, particularly those living in remote and mountainous areas. Social evils and crimes remain imperative. The world’s economic and politic situations are complicated and unstable and may potentially affect the national economy. 

The Government asked ministries, agencies and localites to overcome obstacles and challenges, adopt timely policies, be consistent with the realization of set missions and the Resolutions issued by the Party, National Assembly and Governemnt, especially the Resolution No. 01/NQ-CP dated on January 3, 2012, focusing on the following central tasks:

- The State Bank of Việt Nam is responsible for coordinating with other ministries and sectors to reduce interest rates right in the first days of March, 2012, while maintaining reasonable credit growth in order to ease difficulties burdend by businesses, securing inflation control and liquidity of the banking system and stablization of the exchange rate; prioritize loans for agricutlure, rural development, exports, processing and supporting industries, small and medium sized enterprises and social housing programs. 

- The Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for pushing up industrial production, especially processing and manufacturing industries; implementing measures to develop market, supporting businesses in distributing products and reducing inventories; enhancing trade promotion activities, boosting up exports; fostering domestic market, taking products and services to rural areas, renewing purchase and distribution channels; closely controlling the export of unessential items, encouraging businesses to improve labor productivity and optimize expenditure.

- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Devleopment and localities are responsible for  accelerating rice cultivation for Spring-Winter crop; develop husbandary along with enhancing measures to control and prevent avian flu; increasing rice purchase and exports; coordinate with the State Bank of  Việt Nam to realize policies on credit assistance for rice purchasing, production, processing of agricultural and fishery products for exports; building and implementing plans for preventing forest fires, dealing with natural calamities, and pushing up the implementaqtion and quality of projects on storms and flooding prevention and control.

- The Ministry of Planing and Investment is assigned to collaborate with the Ministry of Finance and the State Bank of Việt Nam to review the difficulties faced by businesses, analyse and propose measures to deal with those dificulties; push up the mobilization of domestic capital, create conditions for disbursing commited fund for  registered foreign direct investment (FDI) projects; coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to mobilize corresponding capital for disbursing the fund commited by the donors in official development assistance (ODA) Agreements; early announce and distribute the Government bond plans after they are approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee, firstly allocating part of the capital to guarantee the rate of progress and quality of some crucial and urgent traffic and irrigation projects. Localities are requested to beef up the site-clearance work for these projects.

- The Ministry of Finance is responsible for coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and other relevant agencies to put forward the roadmap of adjusting oil and gas price based on the Government’s Decree No. 84/2009/NĐ-CP issued on October 15, 2009, and the power prices must be regulated under market rules and support the target of inflation curbing; working with the Ministry of Transport to submit to the Government the plan on private vehicle used fee.

- The Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Welfare is responsible for realizing social welfare policies, closely follow the citizens’ livelihoods, especially of poor households, with the aim of putting forwards prompt dealing measures; reviewing employment and labor situations, striving to reduce strikes and collective absence from work in industrial parks in 2012.

- The Ministry of Health actively implements the Prime Minister’s Telegraph No. 218/CĐ-TTg dated on February 20, 2012 to prevent bird flu, strengthen supervision and restrict the disease’s impacts on people’s lives and health; expand checks of the food hygiene and safety, especially in animal and poultry processing and distributing areas; discover, treat and prevent the infections of meningococcal and hand-foot-mouth diseases; and finalize the project to overcome the overload status in hospitals and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval.

- The Ministry of Transport cooperates with Ministry of Public Security and localities to implement and evaluate solutions for reducing traffic jams in Hà Nội and Hồ Chí Minh City; take drastic measure to lower traffic accidents across the nation; speed up the implementation of crucial traffic projects.

- The Ministry of Public Security is to coordinate with other agencies and localities to strengthening anti-crime, focusing on investigations of crucial cases; patrolling, controlling and dealing with traffic safety violations, especially in passengers’ transports in key roads; guaranteeing political security and social order and safety; preventing fire and explosion particularly in big cities, commercial centers and crowded residential areas.

  - The Ministry of Science and Technology coordinates with the Minstry of Transport, Ministry of Public Security and related agencies to quickly announce reasons for recent  vehicle explosions  to find suitable dealing measures.

- Ministries, agencies and localities boost up administrative reform, prevent corruption and wastefuless. The Government Inspectorate and localities focus on dealing with complaints and denunciations, especially issues related to land using rights.

- Ministries, agencies and localities realize the entire working program and annual working program of the Government for 2012 and quickly complete the related projects to submiting to the Political Bureau, Secretariat, Party Central Committee, National Assembly and NA Standing Committee.

- The Ministry of Information and Communications is to put forth guidlines for information work that are objective and in conformity with the government’s policies. Ministries, agencies and localities implement the guidance of the PM on providing official information for media based on the Official Dispatch No. 7568/VPCP-TH dated on October 27, 2011; strictly pursue verbal regulations, actively provide information, create social consensus, mobilize the whole political system to achieve the set targets; strictly deal with those spreading untrue information causing unstability and harm to the State and people’s interests. 

2. The Government discussed and gave comments on the reports on: reviewing five year implementation of the Resolution adopted at the 3^rd Plenum of the 10^th Party Central Committee on enhancing the Party leadership over anti-corruption work; reviewing the five year implementation of the Law on Anti-corruption and summing up the first phase of the national anti-corruption strategy till 2020. These reports were submitted by the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption and the Government Inspectorate.

The Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption and the Governemnt Inspectorate are assigned to collect comments of the Cabinet members right at the meeting and complete the reports; the Ministry of Finance completes and makes report on anti-wastefulness. Based on those reports, the Central Steering Commitee for Anti-Corruption completes the Project of reviewing the five-year implementation of Resolution (adopted at the 3^rd Plenum of the 10 Party Central Committee) on enhancing the Party leadership over anti-corruption and anti-wastefulness, then report it to the Prime Minister before submitting to the Politburo.

3. The Governemnt also debated and gave comments on Project for social welfare issues in the 2012-2020 period, presented  by the Minister of Labor, Invalids and Social Welfare.

The Government assigns the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Welfare to acquire comments at the meeting, clearly identify the scope of project, benificiaries, programs, policies, especially new policies in accordance with national target programs, propose solutions and human resources to guarantee the feasibility and complete the project and report to the Prime Minister before submitting to the Politburo.

4. The Governemnt considered the overal project on salary reform, social insurance and allowances for accredited people in 2012-2020 term, presented by the National Steering Board on Salary Reform.

The Government assigns the Steering Board to coordinate with ministries and relevent agencies to collect opinions of the Cabinet members, finalize the project and report it to the Government's Party Committee for comments, then submit it to the Politburo.