VZCZCXRO2609
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHHI #2031/01 3380023
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 040023Z DEC 07
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6817
INFO RUEHHM/AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH 4011
RUEHZS/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 002031 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ETRD EINV ECON ENRG VM
 
SUBJECT: VIETNAM'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECOND WORKING SESSION SETS 
AGENDA FOR NEW TERM 
 
REF: Hanoi 2011 
 
HANOI 00002031  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Vietnam's 12TH National Assembly (2007 - 2011) passed 
several laws -- including a long-awaited law on domestic violence 
prevention (reftel) and laws on judicial assistance and special 
amnesty -- during its 25-day working session which ended November 
¶21.  It also set an ambitious legislative agenda for the rest of its 
tenure, with a goal to pass 93 laws and ordinances.  The session was 
marked by extensive media coverage of recently introduced question 
and answer sessions for Cabinet ministers where the new, younger 
assembly delegates were shown noting weaknesses and shortcomings in 
government programs and raising "concerns of common citizens."  New 
laws and planned amendments to the Constitution are expected to 
decentralize more authority to local administrative units and 
further integrate Vietnam into the world community as a new member 
of WTO.  Under Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong, however, this National 
Assembly will not constitute a force for significant change, but 
will seek to expand its role in oversight and accountability in a 
measured way.  The Party still dominates the process and sets the 
tune.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The GVN National Assembly's (NA) 12th Legislature (2007 - 
2011) closed its second working session on November 21, 2007 in 
Hanoi.  Over 25 days, the Assembly passed seven laws, including the 
long-awaited Law on Domestic Violence Prevention (Reftel) as well as 
the Law on Special Amnesty, Law on Judicial Assistance, Law on 
Personal Income Tax, Law on Product and Goods Quality, Law on 
Prevention and Control of Contagious Diseases, and the Law on 
Chemicals. 
 
AMBITIOUS LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM 
----------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The NA also set its legislative-making agenda for 2008 and 
more broadly for its 2007-2011 tenure.  According to press reports, 
the NA plans to pass 93 laws and ordinances over the next four years 
and draft 35 more for consideration by the next NA session, in a bid 
to complete the legal framework for Vietnam's membership in the WTO. 
 Its plan for 2008 alone includes passing 44 laws and drafting 10 
others.  At the session's closing ceremony, new NA Chairman Nguyen 
Phu Trong called on NA Deputies to report quickly on the results of 
the session to voters, make regular contact with voters, supervise 
the settlement of citizen's petitions and complaints, and encourage 
implementation of NA resolutions. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mission contacts tell us that this NA is likely to consider 
reforms which would result in reducing each provinces' control over 
budget outlays, sending spending rather to a larger number of 
lower-level jurisdictions. Local administrative units would then be 
expected to deal with their own budgets in terms of public 
investment and regional economic cooperation.  The move to make 
provinces less important institutions, especially when it comes to 
implementation of national target programs, is designed to increase 
accountability.  With smaller, better defined, jurisdictions under 
the gun, in theory it will be easier to spot situations in which 
local officials are failing to use the monies for the purposes 
intended. 
 
¶5. (SBU) While the NA's role in formalizing change, such as the one 
mentioned above, and passing laws is important, the drafts and 
initiatives are still almost entirely the products of an executive, 
and ultimately CPV, led process.  The role of the NA in promoting 
"transparency and a civil society" will remain key objectives, but 
at present these remain more rhetorical than actual.  The 
long-stalled Law on Associations, which would give a more prominent 
role to NGOs, for example, is now in its twelfth draft.  The bottom 
line is that the NA lacks authority, and staff personnel, to 
function as a generator of initiatives and 
 
DELEGATES PARROT GVN GOALS ON ECONOMIC GROWTH 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) On the economic front, the NA considered the 2007 and 2008 
State budgets, as well as implementation of the GVN socio-economic 
plan for 2007 and 2008.  Legislators "targeted" a GDP growth rate of 
8.5 to 9 percent in 2008.  The debated socio-economic plan for 2008 
also calls for increasing competitiveness, developing 
infrastructure, improving living conditions and raising Vietnam off 
the list of low-income nations.  NA delegates further committed 
Vietnam to: fulfill its commitments to international economic 
organizations, improve the quality of human resources, accelerate 
the application of science and technology advances, and tackle 
pressing socials issues - citing traffic congestion and accidents 
and environmental pollution - while maintaining political stability, 
 
HANOI 00002031  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
national defense, security and social order.  These "opinions and 
decisions" parallel GVN goals and objectives, with some small 
differences in nuance to underscore the "independence" of the NA. 
 
PUBLIC OPINION AN EMERGING FORCE IN VIETNAM? 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) One area that had garnered attention over recent years is 
public coverage of question and answer sessions, with Cabinet 
Ministers standing for questioning from the legislators.  As in 
2006, these sessions were again broadcast on television and radio 
and reported widely across the country.  At the October-November 
session, the Standing Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Sinh Hung, and 
the Ministers of Education and Training, Finance, Agriculture and 
Rural Development, Industry and Trade, Health, Transportation and 
Interior were up for questioning.  Queries from the delegates ranged 
from the quality of school textbooks and consumer inflation to the 
lag in road construction and the quality of healthcare. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Some of our interlocutors maintain that, in part as a 
result of this sort of coverage of NA proceedings, public opinion is 
emerging as a stronger force in Vietnam, increasing pressure on 
public officials including Cabinet ministers to respond to public 
concerns.  Certainly, a forum of potential significance has been 
created which could evolve into a more important channel for "the 
people" to express frustrations and grievances. 
 
EVOLVING ROLE OF THE NA AND THE PARTY 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) The approximately 500 new NA delegates are a mix of 
full-time and part-time members.  They are generally younger and, 
according to our contacts, more eager to learn and accept new ideas. 
 They are also reportedly less tolerant of government misconduct, a 
"fact" called into question by the very high percentage of Party 
members (who where a distinctive flag pin to NA sessions).  Indeed, 
some Mission contacts argue that new NA Chairman is, for tactical 
reasons, more supportive of the Prime Minister and his government 
than the last NA. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Insiders explain that NA Chairman Trong is seen as a 
possible candidate to replace CPV Secretary Nong Duc Manh and 
therefore reluctant to make waves.  Trong has also made a point of 
giving more authority to the National Assembly Standing Committee 
(NASC) as a way of centralizing control of the NA agenda and 
sidelining full-time delegates' former role in pre-session agenda 
shaping.  Even our contacts in the Office of the National Assembly 
stop short of predicting significant changes in the role of the NA 
in actual governance until into the next decade. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Vietnam's NA is engaged in passing many new laws, and most 
of these are solid improvements over what came before.  This is 
important, including to the future transition of Vietnam into 
something other than a one-party, authoritarian state.  To a large 
extent, however, The themes coming out of this NA working session 
include a public call for greater accountability for government 
ministers, greater transparency and "democracy," and at least a 
public declaration by the NA Chairman of appreciation for voters' 
input as a "valuable contribution to the nation's renewal and 
development."  It is not clear to what extent this is a response to 
significant international pressure in 2007 on Vietnam's human rights 
and democracy record or this summer's land rights protests and 
associated media attention.  It is clear that, within the limits of 
Vietnam's political system, the NA is pushing the envelope in 
seeking a greater role in government oversight and accountability 
and shedding its old image as a rubber stamp Congress. 
 
MICHALAK