Unleashing All Resources: Leading with Public Investment to Catalyze Private Enterprise

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang, and leaders of ministries, sectors, and agencies also attended the meeting.

The delegates discussed and gave opinions on two contents: Report on the construction of the draft Law on Public Investment (amended); and Report on the construction of the draft Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of the Law on Planning, Investment Law, Law on Investment in the Form of Public-Private Partnership, and Law on Bidding. These two contents are chaired by the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

Earlier, the Steering Committee for Reviewing and Handling Obstacles in the System of Legal Documents organized two meetings immediately after its establishment, identifying groups of contents that need to be amended in the laws with many urgent obstacles that need to be handled to remove bottlenecks, promote growth, control inflation, and stabilize the macro-economy in the current context.

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the proposal to amend the above laws has sufficient political, legal, and practical basis to implement the resolutions of the Party, conclusions of the Politburo, and the directions of the key leaders, as well as the resolutions of the National Assembly and the Government.

This is important to contribute to the implementation of the three strategic breakthroughs; prevent corruption and negativity; overcome the fear of mistakes and responsibility in a part of officials and party members; meet the aspirations of the people and businesses in reducing administrative procedures, preventing harassment, and reducing compliance costs; and remove difficulties and mobilize and use effectively all resources for development.

Acknowledging and commending the efforts and responsibilities of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as well as the heartfelt and appropriate opinions at the meeting, the Prime Minister affirmed the determination to remove obstacles in legal documents and emphasized that this is a key task in August. He requested that the ministries, sectors, and agencies prioritize time and resources for this task with the spirit of “working day and night if necessary”, arranging officials with sufficient capacity, dedication, and responsibility, and timely rewarding and disciplining.

Regarding the proposal to build the Law on Public Investment (amended), the Prime Minister emphasized some additional guiding views: What has matured and is clear, proven effective in practice, and agreed upon by the majority should continue to be implemented and legalized; no scattered investment, the central budget investment focuses on connecting regions, countries, and the international community, and central budget support for localities must also follow this direction; flexible use of central and local capital sources; public investment leads and stimulates private investment, mobilizes and uses effectively all social resources; does not create an environment for negativity and eliminates the mechanism of “asking and giving”; reduces administrative procedures, promotes decentralization and delegation of power along with resource allocation, enhances implementation capacity, clarifies the responsibilities of each agency and level, and has tools to strengthen monitoring and inspection; and timely rewards and disciplines in public investment.

Regarding the proposal to build the draft Law on Amending and Supplementing a Number of Articles of 4 Laws (Law on Planning, Investment Law, Law on Investment in the Form of Public-Private Partnership, and Law on Bidding), the Prime Minister basically agreed with the proposal to amend and supplement to remove difficulties and obstacles in the process of implementing investment, speeding up the progress, and improving the quality of planning, simplifying procedures, and speeding up the implementation of projects and packages.

The Prime Minister emphasized the requirement to remove urgent obstacles in the immediate future and create development for the future; the view of harmonious interests and shared risks; encouraging strategic investors and high-tech investors; carefully evaluating the impact, and if it is clear that there is a need to amend, propose to amend immediately; considering proposing to amend a number of other related laws; and reporting and proposing to competent authorities on issues beyond their competence.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment will synthesize and continue to review and carefully study the recommendations of the ministries, sectors, and localities on the difficulties and obstacles in the implementation of the above laws, noting the identification of urgent contents that need to be prioritized for immediate amendment in each law; contents with different opinions among ministries, sectors, and localities in the review process; and contents that need to be further studied, summarized, and carefully evaluated to propose consideration when comprehensively amending and supplementing these laws.

Basically agreeing and giving opinions on some specific policy proposals, the Prime Minister assigned Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang to directly direct the construction of the proposals for these draft laws. The Ministry of Planning and Investment will urgently absorb the opinions at the meeting, rectify and perfect the dossiers for the proposal of the draft laws, especially the content of the policies; closely coordinate with the agencies of the National Assembly, and organize consultations with relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals, as well as experts and scientists; and submit them to the Government for consideration and submission to the National Assembly for consideration and approval at the 8th session (October 2024), ensuring progress and quality, meeting practical requirements and the aspirations of the people.