(VOVworld) – The National Assembly Standing Committee chaired by National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung opened its 18^th session on Monday.

The session will continue to comment on the draft revisions of the 1992 Constitution. Chairman Hung said the constitutional revisions should thoroughly express the Party’s platform and reflect the people’s wisdom. A project on reforming the National Assembly Office and the amended resolution on functions, tasks, rights and the organizational structure of the Office are expected to be approved during the session. The National Assembly Standing Committee will hear a report on preparations regarding confidence votes for senior officials elected or approved by the National Assembly at its upcoming 5^th session. National Assembly Chairman Hung says: “Votes of confidence are important mechanism that we will be introducing for the first time. It demonstrates the Party and State’s renewal policies towards the political system and also increases the National Assembly’s supreme supervision over Party and State officials. Careful preparations should be done to push forward with this task objectively and fairly and so accurately assessing the performance and ethics of officials”.

Following the closing ceremony, the National Assembly Standing Committee discussed the Government’s supplementary report on the implementation of its socio-economic plans and review of the state budget in 2012 and early 2013.

The report said that last year Vietnam had major achievements: export surplus reached 780 million USD and prime interest rates were reduced. But the economy faced more challenges than in previous years. GDP growth was 5.03%, much lower than the planned figures of between 6 and 6.5%. Kso Phuong, Head of the National Assembly’s Ethnic Council, said: “We should focus on clearing the flow of capital and stockpiles of goods such as cement, steel, coffee and fish and tighten disciplines in state budget management. We should also continue to restructure state-owned enterprises in line with the Politburo’s guidelines”.

Phan Trung Ly, Head of the National Assembly’s Law Committee, suggested: “In addition to tax exemption and deferment, measures should be taken to help enterprises get access to capital to redevelop their production. Economic restructuring should be one of the most important measures with top priority given to economic groups and commercial banks”.