He made the statement during a meeting with the National Steering Committee 389 in Hanoi on February 19.
At the working session, Deputy PM Truong Hoa Binh said that, in 2018, functional forces discovered and handled more than 234,000 violations (up 4% year-on-year), collecting over VND 19 trillion (US$818.4 million) to the State budget (up 7.7%), prosecuting 1,446 cases and 1,656 offenders (up 6%). National Steering Committee 389 made important contributions to these results, said the Permanent Deputy PM.
However, he said the trafficking of petroleum, cigarettes, liquor and mobile phones was still a serious problem. The illegal transport of goods via northern and southeastern border gates had increased. Loopholes in policies allowing the import and export of goods had not been solved.
He asked the steering committee to connect with concerned organisations to conduct its work and programmes effectively.
The committee must define the prevention of trafficking, trade fraud and fake goods as an important political duty which must be conducted strictly and continuously, he said. The committee should improve their coordination with ministries, sectors and localities to complete policies on the prevention of trafficking.
Permanent Deputy PM Bình emphasised the importance of training and improving professional skills for workers of National Steering Committee 389. The workers must fulfill their tasks, enhance discipline and not support traffickers, he said. The leader also proposed the steering committee issue a plan to prevent people from using electronic means to trade banned goods.
