Minister of Trade Truong Dinh Tuyen: Anti-smuggling should be tightened

Deputy Le Thi Hoa from central Thanh Hoa province asked Minister Tuyen to make clear the role of his ministry and measures to prevent the smuggling of petrol across the border, particularly when it is known to happen by several ranking officials.

Minister Tuyen said that the trading of fake goods and smuggling of petrol is a pressing issue and that his ministry has co-ordinated with other ministries and agencies to deal with it. He said the smuggling of petrol would have been rampant if no bold measures were taken immediately by his ministry.

According to Mr Tuyen, in the first five months of this year, 30,000 smuggling cases and other illegal business practices have been uncovered. However, the Minister admitted that despite greater efforts, smuggling tricks have become more complicated, citing long borders and big price margins.

He said that all provinces and cities have the right and obligation to fight against smuggling. But some localities only see economic interests from smuggling for themselves rather than drawbacks for the country.
“Anti-smuggling will become more effective only when it is hotly debated at local People’s Council sessions,” said Mr Tuyen.

Deputy Do Trong Ngoan from northern Bac Giang province claimed that the Commerce Law has not been fully realised and that the inclusion of the law in anti-smuggling activities has not been successful.

Mr Tuyen said his ministry is responsible for combating smuggling, but it’s better to do it in specific areas with the participation of various forces, local people and even local People’s Committees.  

Regarding the negative impacts of the soaring petrol prices on socio-economic aspects recently, Mr Tuyen said that as an open economy, the impacts of the world economy on Vietnam are objective truths. Due to an increase in global oil prices, domestic oil prices were adjusted, causing major services such as transport, to increase their cost. The bird flu epidemic also caused the price of other food to drive up.

“We have not developed a perfect competitive environment yet, therefore, the possibility of controlling prices through competition is rather low. Weaknesses in economic management cannot be tackled overnight,” said Mr Tuyen.

In response to a question by deputy Huynh Minh Hoang from southern Bac Lieu province, Mr Tuyen talked about Vietnam’s measures to protect farm produce after the country joins the World Trade Organisation.

He said farm produce is a sensitive item, and committed tariffs to be imposed on farm produce are higher than in other areas. The Government will implement a scheme to reduce tariffs from the current rate of 17 percent to the average rate of 13.4 percent. However, he said the scheme cannot be carried out immediately. Instead, the Government will have to develop a strong agricultural development strategy by developing the transport and irrigation systems, generating jobs, assisting farmers to create new varieties and encouraging agricultural extensions.

Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung: A scheme developed to reduce the prices of local-made and imported cars
Deputies also questioned Finance Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung about the responsibility of the ministry in the management and use of capital, the efficiency of importing second-hand cars, and management of land prices and assets.

Deputy Nguyen Duc Dzung from the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum complained about the imposition of high tax rates on imported second-hand cars. He said the decision to import second-hand cars received support from local people, but the ministry’s imposition of high tax rates will be “an obstacle” and importers are no longer interested in importing such cars. Since the decision came into effect on May 1, 2006, only around 10 such cars have entered Vietnam. By implementing the decision, he said local people will not have many chances to select cheaper units, while local automobile manufacturers will continue to capitalise on the situation to make huge profits and control the domestic market. He pointed out the fact that a domestically-assembled car is two to three times more expensive than a foreign one. He said the move aims to protect the interests of a group of local automobile joint venture makers without paying heed to the interests of the consumers.

In reply, Minister Hung affirmed that the price of locally manufactured cars fell regularly and is expected to plummet in the future. He said that although the special consumption tax increased by 10 percent, local car makers were forced to slash the price from five to 10 percent.  

Mr Hung also reasoned that the import of second-hand cars is due to the “pressure” of the integration process and that a policy cannot prove effective within only one or two days.
“We should be cautious if we do not want to become a parking lot of Chinese cars,” Mr Hung warned. “Currently, we have developed a scheme to reduce the prices of local-made and imported cars in accordance with the signed Vietnam-US Bilateral Trade Agreement.”

Regarding the wrong doings in the use of PMU 18 cars, Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung explained that cars managed by PMUs are not public assets and that the 34 cars PMU 18 lent have been retrieved. However, he admitted his responsibility for not dealing with the case immediately.  

Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc: Capital disbursement on track
In the morning, deputy Ngo Thi Minh from north-eastern Quang Ninh province questioned Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc about his responsibility for a project to provide information for fishermen at sea, which has not been implemented yet.

In reply, Mr Phuc said that since the project was initiated, his ministry has made necessary preparations and obtained certain results. In 1996, Japan helped Vietnam build an information dissemination system and it has worked effectively.

However, Mr Phuc attributed the serious losses caused by recent Typhoon Chanchu to a lack of communication equipment. He said only half the number of offshore fishing vessels have communication systems.

Deputy Do Trong Ngoan pointed out the fact that donors have complained about the slow disbursement of loans.
Mr Phuc said that the disbursement of loans from the World Bank and Japan has gone smoothly, except for loans from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Through fact-finding tours, donors praised Vietnam for the effective use of official development assistance. WB inspects its funded-projects every six months, while ADB has not uncovered any graft scandals like one at the Ministry of Transport’s Project Management Unit 18 (PMU 18). He concluded that whether or not the investment environment is affected by corruption in the coming time depends on the settlement of the PMU 18 case.

Regarding ODA sources, Mr Phuc said that the management, allocation, use and inspection of ODA projects are based on bilateral co-ordination between the Government and donors. MPI only provides consultancy for priority projects. Mr Phuc quoted donors as saying Vietnam is one of the countries that attracts and uses ODA sources effectively.