National Assembly (NA) chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân meets voters in the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ yesterday. — Photo vov.vn

CẦN THƠ – National Assembly (NA) chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân, on behalf of other NA deputies of the Mekong Delta city of Cần Thơ, has promised they will make concerted efforts to fulfill their tasks in the parliament’s 14th tenure.

She met yesterday with local voters who applauded the results of the election of deputies to the 14th NA and all-level People’s Council for the 2016-21 tenure, along with the outcomes of the new parliament’s first session, especially the election of the NA, State and Government leaders.

Many voters voiced their concerns about an array of pressing issues, including investment into the Mekong Delta, farm produce prices, the planning of industrial zones along the Hậu and Tiền rivers in relation to the environment, marine sovereignty protection, food safety and corruption.

The NA chairwoman said the new legislature will strive to make laws with better quality, transparency and feasibility that can create stable and long-term legal frameworks.

It will overhaul policies and laws to ensure the sense of responsibility will be upheld in all projects that relate to people’s livelihoods and the country’s sustainable development and security, regardless of being invested in by the State or by foreigners, she added.

She acknowledged that investment in the Mekong Delta is still modest. Hence, the NA and the Government will review general plans for the Mekong Delta, including those on transport infrastructure, so as to reduce the development gap among regions.

Việt Nam does not exchange the environment for economic growth, the chairwoman reiterated, adding that the NA will keep a close watch on the clarification of responsibility and handling of violators in the recent marine pollution along the central coast.

Policy targets fishermen

Meeting with voters in central Hà Tĩnh Province yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Vương Đình Huệ said the Government was working on a master policy package to help people in the four central provinces affected by the environmental incident stabilise their lives and recover production.

“The Government pursues a long-term, synchronous and specific policy, thus, the Government has instructed provinces to provide full statistics and investigations of total damages,” the Deputy PM said.

Beneficiaries are individuals, organisations and households that are involved in fishery activities, salt production and providing tourism services hit hard by the environmental incident in central coastal communes.

The policy package aims to revive fishery resources as well as inhabitation of marine fish species, loan local residents to recover production, support vocational training, create jobs and medical insurance for local people, the deputy PM said.

“Policies will also be made to provide credit for building new fishing vessels,” Huệ said.

“Specific orientations are being discussed, conveying opinions from provincial authorities to ensure that those in need will receive what they really need.”

Also yesterday, Chairman of the National Fatherland Front, Nguyễn Thiện Nhân and NA deputies of the southern Trà Vinh Province met with constituents there.

The local people said they would like the central Government to better policies targeting those who contributed to national liberation and defence, to lower the age of pensioners, to develop vocational orientation and job generation solutions for university and college graduates, and to invest more in rural infrastructure systems, particularly electricity, traffic and irrigation projects.

They also called for the NA to strictly deal with establishments producing fake fertiliser, fake veterinary medicine, unqualified seafood and unsafe food whilst having policies helping sugar cane and rice farmers in response to climate change.

Constituents from Hiệp Mỹ Đông Commune, Cầu Ngang District asked the Government to strongly punish corruption cases and to take hard and effective measures in dealing with the East Sea issue to protect national sovereignty over seas and islands.

Fatherland Front chairman Nhân said changes of crops and production modes to cope with climate change were a matter of common concern nationwide, thus, the Government would seek out ways to assist farmers. But he urged the farmers to participate in production cooperatives to have better access to technological and scientific advances, capital resources as well as consumption markets to mitigate risks whilst increasing profits.

Yesterday, politburo member and head of the Party Central Committee’s Publicity and Education Commission, Võ Văn Thưởng, and some NA deputies met with constitutents in the southern Đồng Nai Province’s Biên Hòa City. — VNS