NA chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân addresses at the last session of the 14th National Assembly on Wednesday morning. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The 14th National Assembly opened its final session on Wednesday morning in Hà Nội. 

During the 12-day session, the 11th of its kind during the 14th tenure of the NA, legislators will spend seven days deciding on candidates for the top leadership positions of the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, NA chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said the 14th National Assembly was elected on May 22, 2016, and operated amid many changes, advantages and disadvantages, opportunities and challenges in the world and the region. 

The last five years also marked Việt Nam’s thriving development after 35 years of renovation.

Ngân said under the Party’s leadership and voters' supervision, the 14th NA represented national unity, Việt Nam’s creativity and innovations.

“The NA strongly innovates its activities flexibly, with caution, decisively and responsibly,” Ngân said, adding that the legislative body acted for people’s benefits, the nation’s benefits as fulfiling a huge workload, deciding important issues of the country as well as foreign affairs work that helped improve Việt Nam’s position internationally.

During its term, 14th National Assembly issued legal documents to constitutionalise the Party’s policies and directions and concretised the 2013 Constitution.

Among 72 laws, two ordinances and resolutions approved during the term, many played fundamental roles in Việt Nam’s legal framework, Ngân said, adding that some legal documents with new issues were approved for the first time.

Trade agreements, conventions and treaties were ratified, contributing to completing the legal framework, meeting the needs of international integration and the interests of the country, Ngân said.

The 14th National Assembly also witnessed changes in Việt Nam’s law-building process, Ngân said.

For example, programmes to develop laws and ordinances were issued yearly of once at the start of the five-year term and the policy development process was separated from the drafting process. 

After every meeting, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly announced its conclusions on major issues or contents with controversial opinions in each project or draft so that agencies could continue to study and submit additional explanatory reports to the National Assembly.

“The forms of discussion and opinion collection on law projects, ordinances and draft resolutions are actively renewed, diversified, which follow the correct process, ensuring quality and saving time,” Ngân said.

“However, limitations remain in legislative activities,” Ngân said.

For example, forecasts for laws/ordinances building programs remained inaccurate, creating a need for adjustments. 

Public opinion consultation for law projects was sometimes still merely a formality, with the consultations short, reaching few people and generating poor results. The impacts of new policies were not evaluated in-depth and some policies were issued without evaluating their impacts on affected groups.

Ngân also mentioned the lack of feasibility of some laws which resulted in conflicts, overlaps and required amendments or revisions.

Rapid changes during national development and global situations partially caused the limitations.

In addition, some agencies assigned to prepare drafts failed to meet their deadlines, while the co-ordination of agencies in assessing, improving and completing the drafts was sometimes ineffective, Ngân said.

The NA chairwoman also raised concerns about the shortage of sanctions for those who slowed the legal document-making process as well as mechanisms to attract experts and scientists to contribute to law projects or mechanisms to encourage affected groups to speak out.

Also in her opening speech, NA chairwoman Ngân said the 14th NA attached much importance to its supervision activities. 

The NA asked the Government to submit reports on the implementation of NA resolutions on socio-economic development, economic restructuring, mid-term public investment and the results of policies for ethnic groups.

Q&A sessions during NA meetings were innovated, allowing more deputies to asks questions, Ngân said, adding that the quality of Q&A sessions had improved and drew much attention from deputies and voters.

During the last session of the 14th National Assembly, legislators will elect candidates for top leadership positions for the coming term.

The revised Law on Drug Prevention and Control is also expected to be approved during this session.

The legislators will also discuss draft reports on the performance of the 14th-tenure NA as well as the State President, Government, NA Standing Committee and NA agencies, Supreme People’s Court, and Supreme People’s Procuracy and the State Audit Office of Việt Nam in the 2016 – 2021 tenure.

The Viet Nam Fatherland Front’s Central Committee will deliver a report on people and voters’ opinions and proposals to the NA’s 11th session, while the NA Standing Committee will present a report on the results of supervising the settlement of voters’ petitions sent to the 10th sitting.

The National Election Committee will report on the performance of its tasks since its establishment.

The NA also plans to decide the number of full-time deputies for the Hà Nội People’s Council during the 2021 – 2026 tenure and spend about a week considering top leadership positions.

NA chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân and Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc head NA delegations to pay tribute to President Hồ Chí Minh at his mausoleum before the NA meeting. VNA/VNS Photo Dương Giang

Before the opening ceremony, leaders of the Party, State and Việt Nam Fatherland Front, along with NA deputies paid tribute to President Hồ Chí Minh at his mausoleum in Hà Nội. — VNS