Socialist Republic of Vietnam

 The Government, in its report to the on-going sixth session of the 11th Legislature, set the target to achieve a GDP growth rate of 8-8.5% in 2005. The report pointed to other specific objectives for 2005 as follows:

On the economy:

• Added value of the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sector to increase by 3.4-3.8% and the sector's production value to increase by 4-9-5.2%;
• Added value of the industrial and construction sector to rise by 10.5-11.096%, and the sector's production value to increase by 15.5-16%;
• Added value of the services sector to go up by 7.7-8.2%;
• Export turnover to increase by 14-16%;
• Total investment capital for social development to reach between VND 295,000-300,000 billion, a 17.5-19.5% increase over 2004 or equivalent to 36.5% of GDP;
• State budget collection to reach VND 179,700 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.7% over 2004.
• Total State budget spending to register at VND 226,450 billion, an increase of 9.9% over 2004;
• Consumer index to be kept lower than economic growth rate (7%);
• A budget deficit projected to be 5%.

On society:

• Implementing the national programme on universalisation of junior secondary education: the rate of junior secondary pupils to reach 80%;
• Enrolment at universities and colleges to rise over by 8%, vocational training to go up by 12-15%;
• Reducing the average annual birth rate by 0.04%, to have a population of 83.2 million, a 1.42% increase;
• Generating employment for about 1.6 million people, including 70,000 to work abroad. Reducing urban unemployment rate to 5.5%;
• Reducing the poverty rate to below 7%;
• Reducing the rate of malnourished children under-five to 24%; and
• Giving 62% of the rural population access to clean water.

The Government report also outlined its socio-economic development orientation for 2005, focusing on five main groups of targets, namely obtaining steady, effective and sustainable economic growth; effectively implementing international economic integration commitments and roadmap; conducting vigorous education, training, health care, and culture reform; raising the efficiency of the State apparatus and pushing up administrative reform; improving the business environment and bolstering equitisation and the rearrangement of State-owned enterprises and operating financial and real estate markets to create capacity for vigorous development of the economy.

In agriculture and rural development, it called for the development of concentrated and specialised production zones, the application of intensive farming techniques and the latest scientific and technological advances for high yield and product quality. The sector should continue to plan material production zones for processing facilities, review and correct if necessary current plans for aqua-culture and fishery activities, and reform forestry management.

In industry, the report said the focus of development should be on products with high competitiveness, which already have a market in order to meet domestic demand and boost export value. It also stressed the need to develop hi-tech industries and those serving rural areas, especially processing. A synchronous system of financial and credit services, insurance and infrastructure should be built to serve industrial development and the current export-processing and hi-tech zones.

Certain services with great potential, including tourism, air and sea transportation, finance and banking, should be given priority, as should service quality. The demand-supply balance of essential products should be ensured, while the domestic market should be developed to meet demand in production and consumption and support exports.

Exports must be boosted and the process to integrate into the regional and international economy accelerated, the report said. The country should strive to maintain a high growth rate and concentrate its efforts in making the most of leading export products, which are: sea food, garment and textiles, footwear, crude oil and wood products, while at the same time developing new products with high competitiveness as well as those with high potential in output and market share. The export of processed products with high technical content should also be promoted.

Regarding education and training, the report set the tasks of matching educational development with socio-economic progress, consolidating the results achieved in illiteracy elimination and universalisation of primary education, and continuing to speed up the universalisation of junior high school education. Support will be given to production and service branches to upgrade their technology with the aim of raising productivity, business efficiency and competitiveness.

The report also delineated working directions for natural resources management, environmental protection and sustainable development, employment, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation, the management of culture, information, broadcasting, sports and physical training, and control of social evils. It set the tasks of improving ethnic people's living conditions, as well as the orientation for the socio-economic development of each region in the country.

The Government outlined the main policies it planned to achieve with socio-economic targets set for 2005. It will take measures to drastically improve the business environment, helping businesses raise their efficiency and competitive ability. At the same time, the Government will revise existing legal documents and adopt new ones aimed at creating a really open and equal environment for all orgnisations and individuals in seeking access to factors essential to production and business such as land, capital, labour, and science and technology.

The Government will strive to find more financing sources for economic growth, while improving investment efficiency and fighting waste and losses. It will improve the quality of planning work and mobilise capital from all economic sectors. It plans to adopt new policies to facilitate the development of the private economic sector without any limit in scale and build a system to provide business information to the banks, facilitating their credit activities. The Government will also continue its efforts to reform and publicise administrative procedures.

The restructuring and equitisation process of State-owned enterprises will be accelerated, with more major SoEs subject to equitisation.

The Government plans to encourage greater involvement of the public in a number of poverty alleviation activities, and to promote job creation, especially in rural areas, as well as the export of labour. All sectors in the economy will also be encouraged to participate in healthcare, broadcasting, the mass media, and the preservation of historic relics.

The Government will assist localities to expand detoxification centres for drug addicts, intensify border control against drug smuggling, and take measures to minimise the spread of HIV/AIDs and other dangerous infectious diseases.

Regarding education, the Government will facilitate the development of non-State schools, work out plans to turn a number of public training facilities into non-State establishments, and phase out the semi-public branch in the national educational system. Preferential policies in investment, loans, land and tax will be introduced to help build and improve the infrastructure of non-State schools.

The Government also said it will seek various funding sources for activities in the areas of natural resources management, environmental protection and sustainable development, while paying more attention to improving the material and technical infrastructure as well as the personnel of agencies in these areas.

All economic sectors will be encouraged to invest and provide services in healthcare, training and entertainment, and the State will only control the quality of such services.

The Government's report stressed the important issue of administrative reform. It also pledged to intensify the fight against corruption, ensure transparency in financial management, and promote auditing in administrative and non-production agencies with the aim of raising the sense of responsibility and the efficiency of budget spending. (VNA)