| THE PRIME MINISTER | SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM |
| No. 723/CT-TTg | Hanoi, June 6, 2008 |
DIRECTIVE
ON FORMULATION OF THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN AND STATE BUDGET ESTIMATE FOR 2009
In implementing the National Assembly's Resolution on the 2008 socio-economic development plan and state budget estimate, all branches, levels and enterprises have endeavored to overcome all difficulties to develop production while concentrating on performing the urgent tasks of curbing inflation, stabilizing the macro economy, ensuring social security and maintaining sustainable development.
The tasks envisaged for the remaining months of 2008 and the year 2009 are very heavy, especially when the world economy is still in decline, the prices of crude oil, food and major supplies keeping rising, epidemics and natural disasters occur repeatedly; in the country, the economy tends to develop at a slower pace, the macro balances are unstable, prices continuously increase, the people meet with many difficulties in their lives...
In order to overcome the above difficulties and obstacles, contribute to properly implementing the Resolution of the Xth National Party Congress and the National Assembly's Resolution on the 2006-2010 five-year socio-economic development plan, the Prime Minister requests ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government-attached agencies, provinces, centrally run cities, economic groups and state corporations to make the 2009 socio-economic development plans and state budget estimates with the following principal contents:
A. MAJOR TASKS OF THE 2009 PLAN
I. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL TASKS
In 2009 efforts should be further concentrated on curbing inflation and ensuring macro-economic stability, social security and sustainable growth.
1. Economic development
a/ Branches, levels and enterprises will continue to take synchronous measures to vigorously promote production and services and attract investment. It is expected that GDP of 2009 will increase 7-7,5%. To further promote economic and labor restructuring toward quickly increasing the shares of services and industries.
To strongly boost and increase the competitiveness and effectiveness of industrial production. To implement policies to encourage technology renewal, raising of quality, reduction of production expenses and product costs, especially for essential commodities and exports.
To maintain stable and sustainable growth of the whole sector of agriculture, forestry and fisheries. To vigorously increase investments in agricultural production and rural development to ensure sufficient foods for domestic consumption and increase food quantities for export. To take measures to prevent widespread infection of plant and animal diseases: to ensure sufficient seeds, fertilizers and pesticides for crops, especially rice, striving to achieve a food output and rice yield higher than 2008. To boost the production of industrial crops in association with developing raw material areas and processing industry, especially products with good prices and in big demand on the domestic and overseas markets.
To rapidly develop husbandry towards effectiveness, sustainability and food safety. To ensure breeds, feeds, techniques and other necessary conditions for restoring and developing husbandry. To attach importance to rational exploitation of marine resources and promoting the rearing, processing and export of aquatic products.
To develop services with potential and high value added: to strongly develop tourism; to develop and raise the quality of transport to ensure the circulation of goods and people's travel needs.
To continue reviewing and revising regulations and administrative procedures to become more convenient for people and businesses, first of all regulations and procedures related to business establishment, investment, capital borrowing and disbursement; and procedures related to taxation, customs, access to land, foreign exchange trading, inspection and examination.
b/ To take measures to promote export and effectively control import to reduce trade deficit. To remove export-related obstacles so as to reduce costs and increase the competitiveness of Vietnam's exports.
c/ To further implement measures to curb inflation. To ensure goods supply and demand balance, especially production input goods and people's essential consumer goods. To intensify market control. To build and develop distribution networks so as to ensure the supply of goods at reasonable prices, especially essential consumer goods and in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions.
To control the supply and sale prices of monopolized goods and services.
d/To mobilize to the maximum and efficiently utilize resources. To quickly disburse development investment capita, especially for projects to build essential socio-economic infrastructure and important traffic works in areas boosting large volumes of goods and high transport connectivity so as to remove bottlenecks and increase the volume of circulated goods, and investment projects to produce hi-tech products and products of high export value. To concentrate capital sources for key national projects and works likely to be put into Use in 2009.
To further improve the management of construction investment. To efficiently use and speed up the disbursement of official development assistance (ODA) capital; to attract more and quickly disburse foreign direct investment (FDI). to intensify inspection so as to effectively prevent embezzlement and waste, ensuring quality of works. To take the initiative in coping with anomalous developments on the capital market.
e/ To continue accelerating the reorganization and renewal of state enterprises and equitization of state corporations and large state enterprises operating in domains in which the State does not need to hold 100% of their capital.
2. Tasks of development of science and technology, education and training, human resource development, assurance of social security and other domains
a/ To increase the domestic scientific and technological capacity together with increasing the absorption, master and application of the world's advanced scientific and technological achievements to various fields of social life. To promote socialization of scientific and technological activities in the direction of supporting the scientific and technological development market.
b/ To more strongly renovate the domains of education and training, healthcare and culture along with properly pursuing guideline and policies to encourage socialization of these domains. To encourage and create conditions for the private sector to invest in the domains of education, healthcare, culture and sports.
To renovate state management and expand the autonomy and accountability of cultural, health and education non-business units: to step by step increase the quality of social services.
c/ To concentrate on quickly developing human resources to meet development requirements, especially quality human resources, so as to attract investment projects with high technological level and big value added. To further properly implement policies of providing concessional loans for students and vocational trainees in disadvantaged circumstances to pursue their study.
d/ To properly implement social security policies so as to provide practical support for social policy beneficiaries, the poor and persons in disadvantaged circumstances in the process of development. To further promote the implementation of national target programs, programs, projects, solutions and policies on social security so as to support production development and stabilize life for the poor, ethnic minority people meeting with difficulties in poor areas and flood-stricken areas.
To reduce poverty in a sustainable manner and ensure that the poor can reasonable enjoy the fruits of growth. To reduce farmers' contributions. To ensure a better life for the people whose land is recovered by the State.
e/ To implement in a coordinated and effective manner measures to combat epidemics and proactively cope with epidemics or, humans.
To proactively prevent and control natural disasters, promptly organize search and salvage activities to minimize damage caused by natural disasters to people's life and property.
f/ To ffectively tackle burning social problems, especially crime, drug abuse, and traffic accidents and jams in major cities.
3. Environmental protection tasks
a/ To reduce environmental pollution and improve environmental quality. to basically tackle the degraded environment in factory areas, industrial parks and densely populated areas: to renovate and improve the environment on seriously polluted rivers, lakes, ponds and canals.
To raise the capacity of prevention and avoidance of natural disasters and climate change unfavorable to the environment and reduce their adverse impacts on the environment: to promptly respond to and overcome bad consequences caused by natural disasters.
b/ To rationally, effectively and sustainably utilize natural resources and the environment in river basins, ensure the ecological balance, conserve the nature and preserve biodiversity. To promote propaganda, education, training and retraining to raise awareness about the environment: to regard environmental preservation and protection as a responsibility of the entire society.
c/ To meet requirements in environmental protection commitments to the international community, limit adverse impacts of the globalization process on the domestic environment with a view to promoting economic growth and improving the quality of people's life.
4. To step up administrative reform, practice of thrift and combat of waste
In the near future, administrative reform must aim at building an administration to serve the people, which is clean, democratic, effective and efficient: and a contingent of qualified and capable cadres and civil servants who meet the requirements of national development and defense.
