Minister Huynh Thanh Dat said that in the next few months, the Ministry of Science and Technology will try to operate the Product Origin Traceability Portal, and together with the Ministry of Finance, issue a management circular.
The one-hour question-and-answer session on the afternoon of June 7 with Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat revolved around questions about the progress of the project on tracing the origin of goods, investment resources for science and technology, and removing obstacles so that funds in this field can become a channel to attract investment in social resources...
Delegate La Thanh Tan (Deputy Head of Hai Phong Delegation) raised the issue of slow implementation of the project to trace the origin of goods, lack of specific guidance documents, and no database to trace the origin. He asked the Minister to explain the cause and solution to this problem?
Delegate La Thanh Tan (Deputy Head of Hai Phong Delegation). Photo: National Assembly Media
Minister Dat said that after the Origin Tracing Project (Project 100) was issued in 2019, the Ministry of Science and Technology and other ministries and branches deployed and developed 20 Vietnamese criteria on origin tracing as well as put into operation the Origin Tracing Information Portal.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, and the Ministry of Health have participated in disseminating information and building a system to manage information on the origin of goods under their management. However, the implementation of Decision 100 related to this project still has some contents that have not met requirements, such as putting the Origin Tracing Portal into full operation due to some procedures.
"In the next few months, the Ministry will try to operate the Portal, at the same time build information on traceability management, and work with the Ministry of Finance to issue a circular on the financial mechanism to manage this project," said Mr. Dat.
Four years ago, Project 100 was approved with the policy of applying and managing the traceability system to improve the efficiency of quality management and product safety throughout the supply chain, increasing the value of Vietnamese goods. The project includes the construction and operation of the National Product Traceability Information Portal. This portal has the participation of parties in the supply chain such as: manufacturers, packaging units, transporters, distributors, retailers, traceability solution providers and management agencies.
Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dat during the question-and-answer session on the afternoon of June 7. Photo: National Assembly Media
Responding to the question of delegate Nguyen Cong Long (Standing member of the Judicial Committee) about the problem of "spending 100 VND on science and technology, only 13 VND is for research, the rest is for the apparatus, regular expenses", Minister Dat said that in 2023, the total regular expenditure for science and technology will be 12,000 billion VND, of which the central budget is 8,800 billion VND, and the local budget is about 3,200 billion VND. Of the 8,800 billion VND of the central budget, the expenditure to support salaries and apparatus operations is about 900 billion VND, meaning that the proportion for science and technology tasks accounts for 89%. Of the more than 3,291 billion VND of the local science and technology budget, the proportion spent on research tasks is about 55%.
Sharing the blame with Minister Dat, Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, Minister of Finance Ho Duc Phoc and Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha all took the stage to explain. All three men said that investment resources for science and technology have not met requirements.
According to Minister Nguyen Chi Dung, resources for science and technology have been decreasing over the years, from 1.1% in 2017 to only 0.82% this year. Meanwhile, the Central Resolution and the Politburo require ensuring 2% of the budget for innovation, science and technology and gradually increasing according to demand. "This is alarming, the reason is that ministries, branches and localities do not allocate capital or have very low capital, are not really interested, and do not have a project to ensure the correct principles and criteria for capital allocation," said Mr. Dung.
Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc speaks on the afternoon of June 7. Video: National Assembly Television
According to Finance Minister Ho Duc Phoc, of the total budget expenditure of 0.82% for science and technology this year, investment expenditure is 0.23%, and regular expenditure is 0.58%. Meanwhile, the budget expenditure ratio last year was 1.1%.
Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha assessed that science and technology is a field with a complete legal and regulatory framework to facilitate development. However, the investment budget for research in this field is not effective. Compared to the world, Vietnam may be at the lowest level, but the problems in this field are interdisciplinary, and to solve them, it is necessary to innovate thinking and management methods.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that it is necessary to increase the pressure on businesses to innovate in the coming time, moving from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one. The Government is directing the summary of major policies in this field and would like to receive the opinions of delegates to better implement the policies.
At the end of the question-and-answer session with Minister Huynh Thanh Dat, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue recalled the record number of 120 delegates who registered to question, of which 20 asked questions and 12 debated. Mr. Hue said that science and technology have achieved many outstanding achievements in recent times, but there are still many problems that need to be resolved. In particular, total social investment in science, technology and innovation is still low, and the investment is spread out and has not created high efficiency.
National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue. Photo: Pham Thang
The National Assembly Chairman requested the Government, the Minister of Science and Technology, and relevant ministries and branches to absorb the opinions of delegates to overcome limitations in the management field. He noted that the agencies should focus on the main issues: effectively implementing the Strategy for Science and Technology Development and Innovation to 2030; renewing the thinking on granting autonomy and self-responsibility to public science and technology organizations; focusing on establishing industrial property rights, recognizing and registering new products for circulation; increasing investment from the state budget for science and technology and soon completing the legal corridor for the National Science and Technology Development Fund.
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