Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Trần Thanh Mẫn speaks at a forum that reviews the NA's oversight function in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photos Doãn Tấn

HÀ NỘI — Chairman of the National Assembly (NA) Trần Thanh Mẫn on Thursday pointed out four key points to improve the oversight function of the NA.

He was speaking at a forum held by the NA Standing Committee in Hà Nội to discuss measures to enhance the function during the 16th tenure of the NA, which lasts until 2031.

The forum reviewed and evaluated results in the implementation of oversight tasks set out at the NA’s first Forum on Oversight Activities in 2025.

It aims to reform thinking in oversight activities after the Law on National Assembly’s and People’s Council’s Oversight and its guidelines came into effect in December 2025, especially as the two-tiered local government model is being implemented.

In his opening remarks, the NA chair stressed that oversight is one of the three constitutional functions of the NA, an important method for controlling State power and ensuring the strict enforcement of the Constitution and laws.

“It is also a driving force for improving institutions, enhancing the effectiveness of national governance and strengthening the people's trust,” he said.

The NA has made considerable progress in exercising this function, but the country's new development requirements are placing higher demands on oversight activities, Mẫn said.

These new requirements entail several complex strategic policies, decisions, tasks and unprecedented issues, with new growth pillars such as science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence and green transformation profoundly changing how the country develops and governs.

"It is impossible to monitor new issues with old thinking, old methods, and old tools,” said the NA chair.

“The 16th National Assembly needs to create a new method of oversight, with a strategic vision and proactive forecasting based on data and evidence, focusing on the right priorities, and pursuing accountability and results to the end.”

The NA chair and other NA deputies visit an exhibition about the NA's oversight activities prior to the meeting.

Emphasising that the ultimate value of oversight efforts lies not in the number of activities or recommendations but in the substantive improvement of institutions, laws, national governance and the people's lives, Mẫn outlined four directions for the NA’s future oversight activities.

First, the NA must identify the right strategic issues to be given oversight priorities, including the ‘bottlenecks of the bottlenecks’ in policy development, areas that use significant national resources, and issues of particular concern to voters and the people.

In addition, all of its recommendations must be transformed into policy amendments, clearly defining responsibilities of enforcers and creating substantive changes to existing issues.

Oversight methods need to be gradually digitised, and the NA’s policy analysis and forecasting capacity must be improved based on data, evidence and technology.

Finally, the NA must monitor the implementation of each law after it is enacted, ensure that relevant decrees and circulars are issued in a coordinated manner, and monitor practical issues that may arise so that necessary amendments to the legislation can be made.

"The attitude must be clear: We must supervise with a focus, reach conclusions that address specific authorities, make time-bound recommendations, define the responsibilities of those in charge, and measure results by actual changes," NA chair Mẫn said.

He urged NA deputies to engage in frank and focused discussions to answer three major questions: what issues should be supervised to create the greatest change, what methods should be used to ensure the most substantive results, and how all conclusions and recommendations can be fully implemented.

Concluding his remarks, Mẫn stressed that the results of the forum must be turned into feasible tasks and solutions to strengthen the NA’s oversight function and the Party's leadership over such activities.

He expressed his hope that the forum would not only generate new recommendations but also shape a new supervisory mindset for the 16th National Assembly, one that fosters development and effective national governance, and one that serves the people and the sustainable development of the country. — VNS