National conference marks 80 years of Việt Nam’s National Assembly

The Assembly has fulfilled its constitutional, legislative, supreme oversight, and decision-making functions, adopting five constitutions, 567 laws, 236 ordinances and thousands of resolutions.

The National Assembly (NA), in coordination with the Party Central Committee’s Commission for Information, Education, and Mass Mobilisation, and the Hồ Chí Minh National Academy of Politics, on Tuesday held a national scientific conference themed 'The National Assembly of Việt Nam – 80 Years of Formation and Development'.

In the opening address, Politburo member, NA Chairman Trần Thanh Mẫn, said that in recent times, the NA Party Committee has coordinated with relevant agencies to organise many meaningful activities in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the first general election on January 6, 1946, to elect NA deputies.

Looking back over the past eight decades, from the National Congress in Tân Trào, the forerunner of the NA, to the first legislature and its 15 subsequent terms, the NA has always accompanied the nation, making decisions on vital issues in line with the will and aspirations of the people.

The NAy has fulfilled its constitutional, legislative, supreme oversight, and decision-making functions, adopting five constitutions, 567 laws, 236 ordinances and thousands of resolutions. These have laid a crucial legal foundation for economic, cultural and social development; building a political system; combating corruption, wastefulness and wrongdoing; strengthening defence, security and diplomacy; and ensuring the exercise of human rights and citizens’ basic rights and obligations, Mẫn noted.

Oversight activities have been increasingly renewed and strengthened. For the first time, the NA Standing Committee organised a Parliamentary Forum on Oversight Activities. Supervision has focused on pressing issues in real life, meeting public expectations and promoting enforcement of the Constitution, laws and parliamentary resolutions.

Parliamentary diplomacy has also been expanded and deepened, helping international friends gain a better understanding of Việt Nam’s land, people and unique culture, while enhancing the country’s role and position in the global arena, the parliament leader remarked.

At its recent eighth and ninth sessions, along with an extraordinary ninth session, the 15th NA undertook an exceptionally heavy legislative workload with historic significance. With a spirit of strong renewal in both thinking and law-making processes, it adopted decisions critical to institutional reform and political system organisation, ensuring greater coherence, efficiency and effectiveness, while remaining close to the people.

Notably, the NA passed a resolution amending and supplementing certain articles of the Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam with unanimous support from all deputies.

Chairman Mẫn stressed that the entire nation is determined to achieve its development goals – to become a developing country with modern industry and upper-middle income by 2030, and a developed, high-income country by 2045.

“National realities are posing urgent issues requiring solutions. People are anticipating and placing high expectations on the decisions of the Party and State," Chairman Mẫn said.

This demands that the NA continue comprehensive reforms – innovating its mindset and working methods, improving legislative capacity, oversight, and decision-making on matters of national importance.”

He underlined that reviewing and evaluating 80 years of reforms in the organisation and operation of the NA, identifying achievements as well as limitations, and proposing solutions for further innovation is an objective necessity. This will guide the legislature to keep moving forward in the new era.

As Party General Secretary Tô Lâm has emphasised, the NA must "take the lead in institutional development; dare to chart new paths, amend existing ones, and decide on difficult, unprecedented issues," Chairman Mẫn quoted.