HÀ NỘI — The National Assembly Standing Committee on Wednesday agreed in principle on the Government’s regulations on galleries and exhibitions as well as the establishment of Ninh Cường township in the northern province of Nam Định.

The Government’s report, based on partial data from 44 of 63 provinces and direct-controlled municipalities, showed that in 2013, 499 galleries and exhibitions were held nationwide. The number rose to 589 in 2014 and 694 in 2015. Last year’s estimated figure was 385, as only 27 out of 63 provinces and cities recorded this data.

Currently, regulations on galleries and exhibitions are contained in several legal documents, for example, the Law on Commerce regulates market fairs, the Law on Heritages provides for provisions on exhibitions and galleries in museums, in addition to several others concerning print publications gallery, photography exhibitions and art galleries.

The committee agreed that as Việt Nam deepens international integration, more diverse galleries and exhibitions – in terms of forms, content and organisers – have emerged, necessitating regulations.

The proposed decree regulating exhibitions and galleries contains 20 items in four chapters.

Tòng Thị Phòng, NA Vice Chairwoman, asked the Government to be more specific about State management in the decree and who is responsible for managing and monitoring exhibition and gallery activities.

In Wednesday’s session, the NA Standing Committee also unanimously voted for the establishment of Ninh Cường township, Trực Ninh District of Nam Định Province.

The township of Ninh Cường is set to be the new name for the current Trực Phú commune. However, the changes will not be too disruptive, as the ‘Ninh Cường’ epithet is familiar with Vietnamese people as Trực Phú commune used to be the capital of Ninh Cường ‘tổng,’ (tổng is an administrative unit between commune and district, used in feudal Việt Nam).

Some 99 per cent of Trực Phú commune’s voters have voted in favour of the new name.

According to the NA Standing Committee’s legal committee, Trực Phú commune has met the three criteria required to set up a township, namely population, urban classification (area, political importance, urban infrastructure, etc.) and development.

NA Vice Chairwoman Phòng asked that more qualified officials with at least bachelor degrees be appointed in the new township’s administration, or more training be given to current ones so they are “able to handle urban affairs management.”

NA’s 5th session set for May 2018

The NA Standing Committee on Wednesday also heard that the fifth session of the 14th National Assembly (NA) is scheduled to take place from May 21 to June 18, 2018.

At the fifth session, the NA will debate and adopt seven bills, one draft resolution and discuss 11 other bills, including the revised Anti-Corruption Law and a law on amendments and supplementations to some articles of the Law on Environmental Protection Tax.

NA deputies will discuss reports on socio-economic development and the State budget, while conducting supervision and approving resolutions on the supervision programme and the formation of a NA thematic supervision group in 2019.

They will also decide on several important issues of the country.

On Wednesday, the NA Standing Committee’s members reviewed the outcomes of the 14th NA’s fourth session.

They agreed that the session completed a lot of work, making important decisions to drive national socio-economic growth.

They said that the decisions helped deal with urgent matters, contributing to boosting the country’s development and international integration.

However, they also pointed to some shortcomings of the session, including limitations in preparing documents. — VNS