The draft political report set for the 10^thParty Congress seeks to develop all economic sectors, all forms of production and all forms of business, collective and private, without preference based on ownership.

Following is the segment concerning economic development:

2006-10 will be decisive for the accomplishment of the social-economic development strategy in the first 10 years of the 21^st century, as set out by the Ninth National Party Congress. In this period, Vietnam strives for economic growth at higher speed, higher quality, more sustainability, which is connected with human development. By 2010, the gross domestic product (GDP) will increase by 2.1 times compared to 2000 and the average GDP growth rate will be 7.5-8%/year and may be over 8% per year.

Continuing to build and perfect the market economy under socialist orientation, liberating the productive force and creating a new driving force for development….mobilising and using all internal and external forces, improving the living standards of the people, speeding up hunger eradication and poverty reduction, encouraging all people to legitimately enrich themselves and help others escape from poverty and gradually get prosperous are all goals in Vietnam.

Developing the economy with many forms of ownership and many economic sectors, in which the state sector holds the key role, state and collective economies will more and more become a solid foundation of the national economy.

Realising social progress and equality in each step and each development policy; economic growth must go with social, cultural, health, education and training development, dealing with social issues for the goal of human development, completing the distribution mechanism in line with labour, economic effectiveness, capital contribution and other resources and via social welfare.

Also important is bringing into play the people’s social ownerships, ensuring a role in controlling and regulating the economy of the socialist jurisdictional State under the leadership of the Party. The state only influences the market mainly through mechanisms, policies and economic tools but at the same time uses some necessary measures when the domestic market operates ineffectively or when the regional and the world market experience large changes.

Vietnam will also conduct state management by the legal system, diminishing administrative intervention in the operations of the market and enterprises. Splitting the administrative management function of the State from the business management function of enterprises, abolishing the governing (in-charge) mechanism, clearly distinguishing the system of public administrative bodies from the system of public service organizations (education, science and technology, health, culture, sports and physical training) and strongly developing public services are also priority.

The state will continue to reform financial, monetary and income distribution policies, ensuring the stability and sustainable development of the national finances.

The government will also clearly define the relations between the National Assembly, the Government and ministries, sectors, and provincial and municipal People’s Committees in performing state management functions in economic and social areas.

Also priority are comprehensively developing and effectively managing the operations of basic markets under the healthy competition mechanism, narrowing the business areas with a state monopoly, abolishing the corporative monopoly; continuing to renovate the pricing control mechanism. Strongly developing domestic trade at all regions and quickly increasing exports and imports, intensifying trade liberalization appropriate to Vietnam’s commitments on international economic integration, and creating new, fast and comprehensive developments in the service market, especially high-grade services with high brain and value added values will also take priority. The growth rate of the service sector will also be put at a higher level than GDP growth rate.

We will also seek to develop and improve the quality of tourism activities, diversifying tourism forms and developing transport, telecom, financial, banking and consulting services.

The government will also seek to gradually develop the financial market in a sustainable manner, completing the monetary market; cleaning up short-term capital and quasi-money paper transactions in the market while also developing the capital market, further promoting the operations of the stock market linking with the equitisation process of state-owned and foreign-invested companies, developing the forms of joint stock companies and mobilizing all sources of capital in the society for development investment. Also priority will be strengthening the State Bank and cleaning up and restructuring the system of commercial banks, financial companies, debt purchasing companies, securities trading companies…

Developing the real estate market (including the market for land use rights and real estate associated with land): Ensuring that land use rights support production; turning land into a source of capital for development; gradually making the real estate market competitive in the regional market and attractive to investors. The state controls land prices by the supply-demand relations and through taxation policies related to land. The state manages the real estate market and at the same time is the biggest real estate investor. The system of laws on real estate trading will be completed.

Developing the manpower market in all economic sectors, creating the combination between the supply and demand of manpower, bringing into play labourers’ enthusiasm for vocational training and job search. There are preference policies for labour-intensive enterprises, especially in the rural areas. Promoting labour export, especially trained workers and agricultural labourers. Completing the mechanisms and policies on selecting and using labour in the state sector and the apparatus of government. Diversifying the forms of job transaction, developing the information system on the labour market at home and in the world. There are policies to import high-quality manpower in technology and management for the priority.

Building the legal system on labour and the labour market to ensure the right to select the place of work and the residence for labourers; widely implementing the labour contract; protecting the interests of employees and employers, building the social welfare system.

Developing the technology market based on the renovation of mechanisms and policies to turn most sci-tech products (except for basic research and research serving the construction of the development policy and strategy) into goods; widely informing and creating a competitive market for the trade of sci-tech products in the market.

Through development assistance policies, the State recognition and protection of intellectual property for sci-tech works and creative activities to perfect and apply new technology. There are policies to attract transnational companies to invest and transfer new technology to Vietnamese companies. Attaching importance to import modern technology, gradually developing domestic technology, turning research and development organizations of various forms of ownership into businesses, forming a force of sci-tech enterprises, building the state management system of technology market.

Strongly developing all economic sectors and all forms of production and business. Based on the three ownership mechanisms (State, collective and private) to form many types of ownership and many economic sectors: state, collective, private, state capital and foreign-invested.

Economic sectors operating under the law are the significant elements of the socialist-oriented market economy, which are equal to the law, develop in the long term together, cooperate and compete. Abolishing all discrimination based on form of ownership; the state only supports the development of some sectors and products, some targets like export, job creation, hunger eradication and poverty reduction, dealing with risks and small and medium enterprises.

Realizing the national strategy on enterprise development. Building a system of Vietnamese enterprises with high competitiveness, having prestigious trademarks, including some large economic groups in the form of joint stock company.

Completing the framework and policies for state-owned enterprises so they will succeed in a competitive, open and transparent environment. Abolishing monopoly and privilege in business and production at state-owned enterprises. State-owned enterprises have the rights to have assets, work independently and take responsibility in business and competition, accepting risks. Linking responsibility, power, and interests of managers with the operation of enterprises.

Continuing to promote restructuring, renovation and improvement of state-owned enterprises, considering equitisation as a key measure. Restructuring state-owned enterprises, focusing on some fields such as infrastructure, material production and important services of the economy and some public utility areas. Intensifying and expanding the range of equitisation, including state-owned corporations. The value of state-owned enterprises that are equitised and land use rights must be defined under the market economy.

Promoting the establishment of strong economic groups that reach the regional level, with capital contribution from the state, domestic and foreign individuals, insurance companies, investment funds, etc. in which the state holds the lion’s share.

Improving the economic and legal environment, diversifying the forms and mechanisms to attract foreign investment in important fields. Facilitating foreign companies doing business in Vietnam.

Speeding up industrialization and modernization combined with each step of knowledge-based economy development; taking advantage of opportunities created by international integration and our country’s advantages and potential to narrow the process of industrialization/ modernization under the socialist orientation linked with each step of development of the knowledge-based economy; considering knowledge-based economics as the important factor of the economy and industrialization/modernization; strongly developing economic sectors and high value-added products based on knowledge; combining the use of knowledge among Vietnamese people and the latest knowledge of humankind. Considering both quantity and quality of economic growth in each step of development of the country, in each region, each locality and in each social-economic project.

Building a modern and rational economic structure in line with sectors and areas; cutting intermediary costs; strongly increasing the percentage of national value; added value; improving labour productivity of all sectors, especially the basic sectors with high competitiveness.

Attaching importance to industrialization; modernization of agriculture and rural areas; speeding up the process to shift the agricultural and rural economic structure toward large-scale production connected with processing industry and market; implementing mechanisation; electrification and irrigation to raise productivity; quality and competitiveness appropriate to the characteristics of each region and each locality; quickly increasing the ratio of product and labour value of industrial and service areas; gradually reducing the ratio of agricultural products and labour; re-organising production and building suitable production relations; creating favourable conditions to develop a hi-tech agricultural zone and concentrated cultivation and animal husbandry areas; industrial and service enterprises linked with the establishment of craft villages; farms; cooperatives; producing products with high economic value.

Encouraging the development of hi-tech industries; processing software and supporting industries; creating products for export and employing many labourers.

Encouraging and facilitating all economic sectors to develop consumer goods industries for export; producing important materials based on modern techniques; giving priority to attract investment by economic groups and trans-national companies.

Urgently drawing the domestic and foreign flow of capital to implement some important projects on oil and gas; petrochemistry; oil refining; metallurgy; mechanical engineering; basic chemicals; fertilizer; construction materials; reducing dependence to outside supplies; implementing policies to restrict exports of crude natural resources; attracting overseas Vietnamese and foreign experts.

Mobilizing internal and external resources to build social-economic infrastructure structure; developing the energy industry along with energy-saving technology; completing basic transport infrastructure; irrigation; water supply and drainage systems. Improving the capability of and modernizing post and telecommunication sector.

Stepping up external economic activities; positively and actively promoting international economic integration at a deeper level with global, regional and bilateral economic institutions.

Positively and actively promoting international economic integration under the designed roadmap; which is suitable to the development strategy from now to 2010 and the vision to 2020; realising commitments with other countries on trade, investment and other fields. Preparing conditions to sign free, bilateral trade agreements with many countries, including larger economies; multilateral and regional economic cooperation agreements. Promoting comprehensive and effective cooperation ties with ASEAN members and other countries in Asia and the Pacific region; strengthening and developing bilateral cooperation with strategic partners; effectively exploiting opportunities and reducing challenges and risks when becoming a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

Continuing to renovate the economic institution; checking legal documents; amending, supplementing and completing the legal system; creating a favourable legal corridor for investors, improving the investment environment; attracting foreign direct investment, official development assistance, indirect investment, commercial credit and other sources of capital; correctly defining the target of use and speeding up the disbursement of ODA capital; improving management; improving the effectiveness of ODA capital; ensuring debt payment on time; maintaining the foreign debt ratio at safe and rational levels.

Bringing into play the role and the dynamism of enterprises of all economic sectors in international economic integration; continuing to intensify reform of state-owned enterprises; each enterprise must urgently renovate from thinking to management style, equipment and technology; effective use of investment capital; reducing the cost of doing business and input costs; strongly promoting trade and investment; developing new markets, new products and new trademarks; encouraging Vietnamese enterprises to cooperate with foreign enterprises and aggressively investing abroad.

Source: VNE, 10/3/2006