VN GOV'T ISSUES RESOLUTIONS ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC TARGETS, ENHANCING NATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS

The Vietnamese Government has just issued two resolutions on major socio-economic targets for 2021 and enhancing business environment and national competitiveness, on the heels of a successful 2020 despite the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mai Tiến Dũng, Chairman of the Government Office, during Monday's press briefing on the two resolutions, said the main message is to achieve the dual goal of maintaining high economic growth while keeping the pandemic situation under control to safeguard public health.

According to Resolution 01 on socio-economic targets, Việt Nam aims to post a GDP growth of 6.5 per cent growth in 2021 (higher than the 6 per cent assigned by the National Assembly), with per capita GDP reaching US$3,700, and the Consumer Price Index being kept at about 4 per cent.

The percentage of the population to be covered by the Government-sponsored health insurance programme would reach 91 per cent, while the rate of poor households (defined by multidimensional poverty criteria) would go down by 1-1.5 percentage points.

The Government also aims to have 66 per cent of all workers in the workforce trained, with 25.5 per cent having certificates.

Environment-wise, the Government targets over 90 per cent of all urban households getting access to clean water, 87 per cent of all urban waste collected and treated properly, 91 per cent of waste from industrial zones treated, and forest coverage on a national level reaching 42 per cent.

Regarding the specific tasks, the Resolution demands close coordination between fiscal and monetary policies to unlock difficulties in business and production, promote sustainable and fast development, keep inflation under control and maintain stable macro foundations of the economy, prioritise resources for development and support for businesses and people impacted by the pandemic – especially in the industry, service, tourism and aviation sectors, Minister Dũng said.

The Government will continue to pursue renovating the country’s economic model, enhance productivity, raise the economy’s resilience and competitiveness based on science, technology and innovation.

In 2021, the country aims to expand and diversify export and import markets, proactively settle commercial relationships with its major partners, and to effective implement the free trade deals signed last year – including the Europe-Việt Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), while giving more attention to the domestic market with the message of ‘Vietnamese people use Vietnamese products.’

The resolution affirms the Government’s commitment to develop modern economic and social infrastructure, especially in terms of traffic, energy, urban areas, and adaptation to climate change – with a focus on key transport infrastructure projects such as the eastern part of the trans-Việt Nam North-South expressway, inter-regional transport projects in the northern region, implementation of non-stop electronic toll collection, the first phase of Long Thành international airport, and expansion of three largest international airports in the country Tân Sơn Nhất in HCM City, Nội Bài in Hà Nội, and Đà Nẵng.

The Government will continue to work towards improving Vietnamese people's quality of life, setting people as both the goal and the driving force for social development – with the effective implementation of national target programmes and policies on education-training, health, culture, sport, etc. in order to ensure equal opportunities for everyone.

Dũng said the Government will not trade the environment for economic growth, noting that efforts will be expended to facilitate the planting of 1 billion trees (covering an area of 500,000ha), better respond to threats from climate change, enhance anti-disaster efforts and search and rescue.

The preparations for the upcoming 13th National Party Congress (slated for the end of January), election for the 15th-tenure National Assembly and election for the People’s Council of all levels for the term 2021-26 will also be a priority.

National competitiveness

2021 is the first year in the 2021-30 socio-economic development strategy and socio-economic development plan for the 2021-25 period, the successes of 2021 will be a solid foundation encouraging the undertakings of the following years, Dũng said.

Under Resolution No.02/NQ-CP on improving Việt Nam’s business environment and national competitiveness in 2021, the government orders priority be given to improving a number of indexes and indicators regarding construction permit issuance, asset registration, settlement of contract disputes, bankruptcy of enterprises, land administrative management quality, application of information technology, quality of vocational training, students’ skills, patent granting, fight against corruption, online transactions, job opportunity in knowledge-intensive sectors, and sustainable ecosystem.

Ministries, municipal and provincial People’s Committees and other governmental agencies must sharpen their focus on removing barriers hindering the effectiveness of coordination among them by clearly and transparently assigning rights and responsibilities of each unit. They must also quickly address issues caused by unclear and overlapping regulations in investment and management of land, environment, and natural resources.

Resolution 02 underlines the tasks and solutions for the national digital transformation programme by 2025 with a vision towards 2030, as well as emphasises solutions to improve the country’s preparedness for new production in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

It also requires attention on delivering level-3 and -4 online public administrative services, particularly in healthcare, education, and social welfare; accelerating cashless payment and developing e-commerce; applying information technology to make public procedures more transparent; engaging enterprises and people in government building; promoting shared databases for state governance; and developing and implementing the programme on supporting enterprises’ digital transformation from 2021-25.

BOX:

At the meeting, deputy minister of planning and investment Trần Quốc Phương said Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has tasked the ministry with developing a second COVID-19 aid package in 2021, following the first one earlier last year, based on the feedback from other ministries regarding the impacts of the pandemic.

“The timing of the distribution, the implementation, the scale, or the amount however cannot be answered at this time,” Phương said.

Việt Nam maintains a smooth flow of imports and exports from and to the country, but the opening of borders to foreign arrivals will need to be carefully considered based on developments of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, he added.

Source: VNS