Great responsibility to the Party and to the People

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic spread globally, affecting all aspects of the daily life in Vietnam. In that context, the Government set out the “dual goals” ,both effectively preventing and controlling the epidemic, protecting the safety of the people’s health, and exerting efforts to restore and maintain the pace of socio-economic development in the new normal. The National Assembly (NA) has actively accompanied the Government inbringing about many victories.

National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan attends a meeting to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the New General Uprising (Dong Khoi) in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre. (Photo: VNA)
National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan attends a meeting to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the New General Uprising (Dong Khoi) in the Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre. (Photo: VNA)

The NA supported at the highest level a series of undertakings and policies on social distancing as proposed by the Government, with maximum urgency. The recent success in controlling the epidemic and maintaining a positive economic growth rate clearly showed the harmonious and smooth coordination between the legislative and executive bodies as the country faced an urgent situation. In order to remove obstacles in law from reality, the NA was willing and proactive in sharingand joining hands to create an effective legal framework, while at the same time proposing suggestions on policies, guidelines and discussions with thorough and insightful opinions for the Government and Prime Minister to promptly issue solutions to cope with the epidemic.

Those impressive results are the reason why Vietnam has been praised by international friends as a bright spot in the world for achieving these “dual goals”. Success came from a combination of promoting national strength and internal resources and taking advantage of external forces, of which endogenous resources, especially human resources, are the most important. In difficult times, the superiority of the political system, and the will and strength of Vietnam has been affirmed, consolidating the people’s confidence in the Party and State.

For many years, the NA and the Government have listened to the people and thoroughly grasped theiropinions before making sound decisions. Each member of the NA and the Government, regardless of their position, showed a high sense of responsibility. It can be said that the country had never been faced with such unpredictable natural disasters as this year. The NA and the Government made many decisions to support and provide urgent relief, as well as spreading the message of the entire Party, people and army to join hands to overcome difficulties, creating a great sense of mutual love and care in the whole society.

Despite the difficulties, the NA successfully completed the 2020 agenda, without cutting any content or delaying the agenda. In the past year, the NA discussed, considered and approved 17 bills, 34 resolutions, and commented on 10 bills. The contents of the adopted bills and resolutions all have important meaning, affecting the many aspects of socio-economic life and people's lives, ensuring the consistency and uniformity of the legal system, meeting practical requirements, and creating a favourable premise and driving force for national development.

The NA has never achieved so much in foreign affairs in such a difficult context as in 2020 as the country assumed three huge responsibilities and a very large workload: a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, ASEAN Chair and Chair of the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA). 2020 also marked the organisation of party congresses at all levels towards the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Since the pandemic showed signs of spreading, the NA proactively built a script to organise activities such as the AIPA Chair, as well as proposing the moving of activities to an online form. As an interesting coincidence, the NA decided to choose the theme “Parliamentary Diplomacy for a Cohesive and Responsive ASEAN Community” since the COVID-19 pandemic. Vietnam showed a very cohesive and responsive spirit in the year the country assumed the role of Chair of the 41st ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly.

For the first time in the history of the AIPA, the National Assembly of Vietnam played a leading and coordinating role and obtained great results. AIPA 41 left a special impression among international friends. This was a continuation of the success of the contributions made by the National Assembly of Vietnam throughout the development of the AIPA. Organising large-scale online conferences was a new point in the 43 years of AIPA’sdevelopment. This success affirmed the capacity of the NA in terms of its technology and information infrastructure in particular and that of Vietnam in general, meeting the requirements of the digital age.

The 14h National Assembly achieved great success, becoming an important milestone in the history of the development of Vietnam’s NA. Voters believe and expect the NA’s new tenure will continue to inherit and uphold this experience in order to gain more victories.