At the third meeting of the 10th Presidium of the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) on April 17, many delegates expressed concern about lax oversight of food safety and counterfeit goods following the recent discovery of nearly 600 counterfeit milk products.

“Five ministries managing one dinner table” must stop

Nguyen Thi Doan, former Vice President and a current member of the VFF Presidium, called for accountability: “We need to identify which agency is responsible for incidents like this. We cannot continue with a system where 'five ministries manage one dinner table.’”

She criticized the lack of clarity in responsibility, pointing out, “The Ministry of Industry and Trade says it’s not within their purview - so who oversees the nearly 600 fake milk products? Who ensures that the skewers sold for 5,000–10,000 VND outside school gates are safe or not? This is a pressing issue and needs resolution.”

This sentiment was echoed by Professor Dr. Tran Ngoc Duong, Chairman of the VFF’s Advisory Council on Democracy and Law.

“These products claimed to contain bird’s nest extract, cordyceps, macadamia powder, and walnut powder, but in reality, they had none of these ingredients. Shockingly, well-known showbiz figures helped promote these fake items, with widespread advertising campaigns that fooled the public for four years,” he said.

Call for stronger crackdown on counterfeit goods

Bui Thi Thanh, former Vice President of the Central Committee of the VFF, also raised concerns over the widespread sale of fake milk and pharmaceuticals, which seriously affect public health. She added that rising gold prices, online scams, and fake products were increasingly alarming issues that required urgent action.

Thanh proposed that the VFF recommend to the Party and Government stronger measures to stabilize gold prices and reinforce penalties for cybercrime and the production and sale of counterfeit or substandard goods.

Proposal to reduce tuition fees for non-public school students

Dr. Nguyen Van Pha, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly’s Judicial Committee, proposed reducing tuition fees for students at non-public schools to match the reductions given to public school students, arguing that private school enrollment now represents a significant portion of the student population.

A voter from Hai Ba Trung District echoed this proposal in a submission to the VFF, explaining that many students must attend private schools due to limited space in public institutions. Supporting both sectors would promote fairness and encourage private investment in education.

This proposal is currently included in a draft National Assembly resolution on tuition exemptions and reductions, spearheaded by the Ministry of Education and Training and under review by the Ministry of Justice. It suggests that tuition support for students in private and semi-public schools be equivalent to the maximum rates set for financially non-autonomous public schools by the respective provincial People’s Councils.

This morning’s VFF meeting focused on two main agenda items in preparation for the upcoming 9th session of the 15th National Assembly:

The first topic concerned legislative dossiers for amending several laws: the Law on the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Trade Union Law, the Youth Law, and the Law on Grassroots Democracy. These were developed jointly by the VFF, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labour, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and other socio-political organizations.

The second topic addressed the draft report summarizing citizen and voter feedback to be presented at the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly.

Nguyen Thao