>> NA deputies pin hopes on new leadership

The beginning session of a five-year NA tenure focuses on very important issues of the country. All NA deputies elected for the first time or re-elected are fully aware of their responsibility for the country.

In his opening speech, Party General Secretary cum NA chairman Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed that the Communist party of Vietnam, considered as the leader of the State and people in the constitution, has been doing its best to improve its effectiveness to build a State of the people, by the people, and for the people.

The Party top leader recommended the NA to focus on building and completing Vietnam’s legal system, improving the quality and effectiveness of the NA’s supreme supervision activities, raising the quality of NA decision on the country’s important issues, especially those related to socio-economic developments, State budget, State apparatus and personnel work.

The NA should promote its external activities and renovate the operational methods of its agencies and deputies, he stressed.

In its first session, the NA will spend 11 days nominating and electing key leaders of State agencies, which is considered to be very important for the effectiveness of State management during its tenure.

It will also help ensure the comprehensive leadership of the Party and the collective strength of the whole political system.

The Chairperson, Vice Chairpersons, and members of the NA Standing Committee were elected with a high sense of responsibility and in a democratic manner after considering the recommendations and guidelines of the National Party Congress.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung was elected as 13^th NA Chairman with an overwhelming vote (91.4 percent) and Tong Thi Phong, Huynh Ngoc Son, Uong Chu Luu, and Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan as his vice chairpersons. 12 others were elected as members of the NA Standing Committee.

Newly-elected NA Chairman Hung said the NA Standing Committee will inherit and uphold the achievements and traditions of the previous tenures while joining efforts to enhance its responsibility for building a strong NA that deserves to be the highest representative of the people and the most powerful authority of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

In the first working week, the session heard a government report on the country’s socio-economic situation and State budget in the first six months of 2011 as well as measures and solutions for the second half of the year, a government proposal on the 2009 State budget balance as well as supplementary tax solutions to tackle difficulties for businesses and individuals in 2011.

As scheduled, the session will elect the State President, State Vice President, Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Ministers, chief Judge of the Supreme Court, Prosecutor General of the Supreme People’s Procuracy, and heads of NA agencies.

Truong Tan Sang, a Politburo member and permanent member of the Party Secretariat, was nominated as State President.