Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on❀ August 31 emphasised the importance of reforming working methods inside the Government at the Cabinet regular monthly meeting.

He made the comment during a session to discuss a draft decree on working regulations for the new Government, which will serve as a framework for ministries and sectors to follow. PM Phuc highlighted the need to improve the transparency of Government activities. He requested a reduction in the number of meetings, saying that government officials should understand daily life. While pointing out that coordination between ministries and sectors remained poor, he asked the decree includes concrete regulations on coordination mechanisms and ministers’ responsibilities in cooperating with each other to compile policies. He also emphasised the role of ministers as a ‘commander-in-chief’ of each sector from grassroots to central level. He also asked the Government Office to intensify supervision of ministries and localities in implementing tasks assigned by the Government. Addressing frequent delays at ministries, he urged government officials speed up by using the internet. He asked for greater use of information technology in organising Government activities as well as the PM and deputy PM’s management work, saying that it will save time. In the afternoon session, the Cabinet discussed the social and economic situation in the first eight months of 2016. The consumer price index (CPI) was a highlight of the August macro economy, which a rise of 0.1 percent over July. The CPI of the first eight months rose by 1.91 percent compared to the same period last year. Total State budget revenues by mid-August were nearly 604 trillion VND (26.8 billion USD), equivalent to 59.5 percent of the estimated revenues of the whole year. Foreign direct investment continued to rebound in the reviewed period with a total registered capital of nearly 14.4 billion USD, of which nearly 9.8 billion USD was for implementing projects. Newly-registered enterprises increased by 19.7 percent. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, of the 13 targets of social and economic development set for this year, 11 targets will possibly be reached or exceeded, with two targets likely to be missed. One targets set to be missed is achieving gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 6.7 percent. The ministry blamed the likely failure on the decline of crude oil and disasters such as frost, drought, saline intrusion, storms and floods that adversely affected agricultural production. Another target which will be difficult to achieve is increasing exports by 10 percent due to reduced fish catches, the decline in global oil prices and a drop in price of the country’s major exports. Cabinet members said the country is also struggling with high public debt, slow bad debts payments, and a decreased industrial production index. In his speech to conclude the second session the Government’s new term, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said that the people want to see concrete results from what the Government promised. He cited a World Bank report indicating that the investment environment ranking of the country rose from 93 to 90 out of 189 economies, while the index for start-up business rose from 125 to 119 and access to credit rose from 36 to 28. The PM asked ministers and local authorities to regularly check the implementation of the Government’s resolution to support businesses and improve the investment environment. He also reminded the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and the People’s Committee of central Ha Tinh province to clarify responsibility in the Formosa case, in which the Taiwan-invested steel project was found to have polluted the sea environment. Regarding the ongoing equitisation of the State-owned enterprises, the PM said that the Government will carry out measures to maximise the benefits of the State, ensure fairness to investors and create social trust.-VNA