Viet Nam is determined to firmly protect its independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interests in line with its policies and international laws, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said yesterday at the Q&A session of the National Assembly agenda.

Responding to deputies' questions about national sovereignty, complicated developments in the East Sea and the Viet Nam-China relationship, the Prime Minister stressed Viet Nam's "points of view, stands and policies were clear and consistent".

"We will continue to uphold the Party and State's correct guidelines and policies.

"We are sincere and try our best to boost the friendship, co-operation on an equal footing, with mutual interests and co-development with China in all fields. At the same time we are determined to firmly protect our independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, including seas and islands and national interests in line with our Party's policies, Constitution, national and international laws including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the Declaration of the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea (DOC) and ASEAN-China South China Sea Code of Conduct."

He said that besides socio-economic development, Viet Nam has kept boosting its national defence and security, foreign affairs and strengthening national solidarity.

It was also necessary for the country to call for and make full use of international support for our rights and justice in order to keep peace and stability for further development, Dung emphasized.

At the session, Dung also clarified key contents of the socialist-oriented market economy in Viet Nam, in which the functions of the Government and market are identified clearly.

Dung said the Government used laws, resources and policies to ensure social equity, security and develop a socialist state ruled by law for the benefits of citizens and the nation.

He said that the Government concentrated on creating favourable business conditions and healthy competition for people and firms as well as maximise resource efficiency for sustainable development.

The Government continued to improve legal framework and comprehensively develop kinds of markets including markets of goods, service, finance, real estate, labour market and technology market.

"The Government will actively open markets and take on international commitments and at the same time, increase productivity and resource use efficiency.

Prime Minister Dung also said that next year, the Government will spend an extra VND15 trillion (US$668 million) to help poor and near poor households across the country as it starts widening its approaches to dealing with poverty.

Identifying poor households would not only be based on income but also good quality social services, healthcare, education, housing and access to information.

Some questions to the PM relating to corruption, smuggling and fake goods, ineffective use of national resources and lax enforcement of laws were not answered at the Q&A session yesterday.

Misused state budget

Before Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh joined the Q&A session by answering questions of deputy Nguyen Van Phuc from central Ha Tinh Province about misused State budget and waste in public investment.

Phuc asked, "can ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance and Construction calculate the loss and waste that occur during the use of resources in the country, particularly in construction using State money?"

Vinh said they could. However, he emphasised that it was difficult to have an exact number because the question was very general, covering all resources including natural resources, human resources and funding.

In the construction sector only, the waste and losses not only occurred in the building process but also in the design and project assessment stage, Vinh said.

"It ( the misused State budget) is serious. The Central Government and local governments must join to curb," he said.

Minister of Construction Trinh Dinh Dung confirmed that there was waste and loss in public investment, particularly in construction.

He said that tightening control over estimations of funding of projects could help reduce waste in investment.

He said that inspection also helped. In the last four years, almost 300 inspections were conducted, recommending punishment and fines worth VND3.3 trillion ($146 million) accounting for 4.3 per cent of total investment of examined projects.

Minister of Sciences and Technology Nguyen Quan reassured deputies that there will be an increased contribution of technology in agriculture after some of them were concerned that technology made up only about 30 per cent of added value of agriculture products.

However, Quan said that before 2010, Viet Nam's total-factor productivity (TFP)–often taken as a measure of an economy's technological dynamism – was almost zero per cent.

The rate sharply increased to about 30 per cent in 2013, 34 per cent in 2014 and 39 per cent this year.

Quan said that the Government planned to increase the national TFP to average 30 per cent to 35 per cent during the period 2011to 2020.

The Q&A session of this NA agenda was an unprecedented one in Viet Nam with the participation of all Government cabinet members including the Prime Minister, three deputy Prime Minister and National Assembly chairman.

Previously, few ministers were chosen for Q&A sessions as issues relating to the ministries' management were of utmost concern by voters.

VNS