VietNamNet Bridge – The fifth plenary session of Vietnam’s 14th National Assembly (NA) will start on May 21st and last 19 working days, making it the shortest session in the last decade.

The fifth plenary session of Vietnam’s 14th National Assembly (NA) will start on May 21st and last 19 working days, making it the shortest session in the last decade.— VNA/VNS Photo Trong Duc

The NA’s plenary session usually lasts about a month, with the most recent one last year lasted for 26 days.

NA General Secretary Nguyen Hanh Phuc said at a meeting of the NA’s Standing Committee about preparation for the coming NA plenary session that out of its working days, the NA would spend 11 days on law making, seven on key issues and one and a half days for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Phuc said that relevant agencies were completing preparation for the NA plenary session in May.

The NA was scheduled to consider passing seven bills including amendments on the Law on Denunciation, the Law on Special Administrative Economic Units, and the Law on Cyber Security and Law on National Defence.

Legislators will also discuss nine bills including an amended anti-corruption law, as well as laws on husbandry, plant cultivation, and amendments to the law on amnesty, and education and training.

The NA will also discuss supervision over the use of State’s capital in State-owned enterprises and the equitisation of State-owned enterprises during 2011-16.

Four bills will not be on the NA’s agenda in coming session including laws relating to public administration, the enforcement of civil judgments, environmental protection and laws on population.

Changes in the Q&A section

NA General Secretary Phuc proposed an immediate question-and-answer session to be piloted in the coming NA meeting.

In last month’s NA Standing Committee meeting, Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long and Minister of Science and Technology Chu Ngoc Anh took to the floor and answered questions raised by NA deputies.

Phuc said that the brief question and answer style used during the session was applauded by voters, as it made the Q&A session more informative and interesting. Normally, questioned persons would receive a series of questions and then answer at length, making answers drawn out and less engaging.

NA chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan said that the Q&A sessions in future would be improved.

“Each NA deputy will have only one minute to ask a question, after receiving three questions, questioned persons will have three minutes to answer each question,” Ngan said, adding that they would be stopped if they go over the allotted time.

In previous National Assembly Q&A sections, deputies usually spent around three minutes asking a question, while a reply would usually last around seven minutes.

Members of NA Standing Committee yesterday agreed that more time should be given for discussing concerned issues or key bills. Time for discussion in groups should be shortened, they said.

Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh who was also present at the NA Standing Committee meeting yesterday applauded improvements made by the NA to address voters’ concerns, as well as key issues facing national socioeconomic development.

She called for an improvement in the quality of laws, due to the fact that in the NA’s law making scheme, a number of laws need to be added or amended.

“The amendments show the NA’s efforts in updating laws to catch up with the times, but they are also evidences of the low quality of certain legal documents, which results in their “short lives”, Thinh said.

As well as this, the NA Standing Committee discussed topics for the NA’s supervision next year.

Source: VNS