Solemn opening of the seventh session, 15th National Assembly

Scene of the opening session of the meeting. Photo: media.quochoi.vn.

Attending the opening session were Politburo members: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh; General Luong Cuong, Standing member of the Secretariat - Director of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army; Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly (executing the activities of the National Assembly and the National Assembly Standing Committee) Tran Thanh Man; General To Lam, Minister of Public Security; Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Do Van Chien.

The opening session was also attended by former General Secretary Nong Duc Manh; former Politburo members: Former President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, former National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Van An, former National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung, former National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan; Politburo members, Party Central Committee Secretaries, Vice Presidents, Vice Chairmen of the National Assembly, Deputy Prime Ministers; Party and State leaders, former Party and State leaders; National Assembly deputies from 63 provinces and cities...

The Hanoi National Assembly delegation attending the session included Politburo member, Secretary of the City Party Committee, Head of the City National Assembly delegation Dinh Tien Dung; Central Party Committee member, Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the City People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh; Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the City People's Council, Deputy Head of the City National Assembly delegation Nguyen Ngoc Tuan and other city National Assembly delegates.

Party and State leaders and National Assembly deputies visit President Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum. Photo: Hai Nguyen.

Party and State leaders and National Assembly deputies observe a minute of silence to commemorate President Ho Chi Minh. Photo: Hai Nguyen.

Before entering the opening session, leaders of the Party, State, Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and National Assembly deputies visited President Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum.

At exactly 9:00 a.m., the opening session of the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly took place under the direction of Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh.

Legislation is the focus of the session.

Speaking at the opening of the session, Permanent Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Tran Thanh Man said that the seventh session of the 15th National Assembly took place in the heroic atmosphere of the historic May days, commemorating the 134th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh; the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory; and the successful ninth meeting of the 13th Party Central Committee.

This session is of great significance in terms of legislation, supreme supervision and decision-making on important national issues. At the preparatory session, National Assembly deputies reached a high consensus and voted to approve the content, time, agenda and method of conducting the session. Accordingly, the National Assembly will work for 26.5 days, from May 20 to June 28, 2024.

National Assembly Permanent Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man delivered the opening speech at the session. Photo: Duy Linh.

National Assembly Standing Vice Chairman Tran Thanh Man said that at this session, the National Assembly will consider and decide on important issues. Of which, legislative work is the key issue, taking up nearly two-thirds of the session’s time with 24 draft laws and resolutions. This is the largest volume of legislative content to be considered at a session since the beginning of the term.

Regarding socio-economic issues, the state budget and other important issues, the National Assembly will review and discuss the Government's reports on additional assessments of the results of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and the state budget in 2023; the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and the state budget in the first months of 2024; and approve the 2022 state budget settlement.

The National Assembly also conducted questions and answers; conducted thematic supreme supervision on "Implementation of Resolution No. 43 dated January 11, 2022 of the National Assembly on fiscal and monetary policies to support the Socio-economic Recovery and Development Program and resolutions of the National Assembly on a number of important national projects until the end of 2023"; reviewed and approved resolutions on the Supervision Program and established the National Assembly's Thematic Supervision Delegation in 2025.

The National Assembly will consider electing the President, the Chairman of the National Assembly, and approving members of the National Defense and Security Council. We request that National Assembly deputies consider and discuss carefully so that the decision on personnel work is strictly ensured, in accordance with Party regulations and State laws, and achieves high consensus and unity.

“Thus, the workload of the seventh session is very large; in order for the session to achieve the best results, on behalf of the National Assembly Standing Committee, I respectfully request that National Assembly deputies promote democracy, uphold the spirit of responsibility, focus on thorough research, discuss enthusiastically, and contribute many passionate, profound, and quality opinions to meet the requirements and tasks of socio-economic development, ensuring national defense and security as well as the expectations of voters and people nationwide,” said comrade Tran Thanh Man.

GDP growth in the first quarter of 2024 reached 5.66%

At the opening session of the 7th session of the 15th National Assembly, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented a report on the supplementary assessment of the results of the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and the state budget in 2023; the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and the state budget in the first months of 2024.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai presents a report at the seventh session of the 15th National Assembly. Photo: media.quochoi.vn.

Regarding the additional assessment of the results in 2023, the socio-economic situation basically achieved the set general goals and achieved many important results in all fields. Some socio-economic indicators were higher than the numbers reported to the National Assembly at the previous session.

Specifically, the GDP growth rate reached 5.05% (reported number reached over 5%), lower than the set target but still high in the world and the region. The economic scale reached 430 billion USD, entering the group of upper middle-income countries, inflation was controlled, the average consumer price index increased by 3.25% (reported number increased by about 3.5%). State budget deficit was about 3.5% of GDP, public debt was about 37% of GDP, government debt was about 34% of GDP, much lower than the ceiling and warning threshold...

Regarding the implementation of the socio-economic development plan for the first months of 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai emphasized that the macro-economy is basically stable, inflation is controlled, and major balances are ensured.

GDP growth in the first quarter of 2024 reached 5.66%, the highest in the 2020-2023 period. This is a great effort in the context of many economic difficulties. The average consumer price index (CPI) in the first 4 months increased by 3.93% over the same period. Monetary policy was flexibly managed, interest rates decreased to support economic growth.

In the coming time, the Government will focus on 11 key tasks. Priority will be given to promoting growth associated with macroeconomic stability, controlling inflation, and ensuring major balances of the economy. Closely, effectively and harmonizing macroeconomic management policies; renewing traditional growth drivers and promoting new growth drivers. Continuing to implement policies on interest rate exemption and reduction, debt deferral, debt restructuring, and tax, fee, charge and land rent exemption and reduction to remove difficulties for production and business.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic Committee Vu Hong Thanh presents the inspection report. Photo: media.quochoi.vn.

Reviewing the above report of the Government, Chairman of the Economic Committee of the National Assembly Vu Hong Thanh presented the review report on behalf of the Economic Committee, emphasizing that, in addition to the achieved results, the socio-economic situation in the first months of 2024 also revealed difficulties and challenges. In order to have a more complete and comprehensive view of the socio-economic development situation in the first months of the year, it is recommended that the Government pay more attention to and evaluate more carefully 6 important groups of issues.

The National Assembly's Economic Committee proposed that the Government implement a number of priority focuses in macroeconomic management. First of all, it is necessary to strengthen endogenous capacity, promote rapid and sustainable economic growth; stabilize the macro-economy, ensure major balances of the economy; control inflation and exchange rates, and prevent shocks that affect people's lives, production, business, and import and export.

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