Second session of 15th National Assembly opens

The second session of the 15th National Assembly opens in Hanoi on October 20 morning.

The meeting is broadcast live by Radio the Voice of Vietnam (VOV1), Vietnam Television (VTV1) and National Assembly Television.

Prior to the opening ceremony, a delegation of leaders of the Party, State and Vietnam Fatherland Front and NA deputies paid tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at his mausoleum.

They then held a preparatory meeting to discuss and vote on the working programme of the second session.

Amid the complex developments of COVID-19, the meeting is held both in-person and online. Legislators will meet virtually from October 20 to 30, and then join in-person discussions from November 8 to 13.

The deputies are expected to consider and adopt two bills and five draft resolutions, including the law amending and supplementing some articles of the Statistics Law, the law amending and supplementing some articles of the Criminal Procedure Code, resolutions on a number of specific mechanisms and policies for Hai Phong city, and Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, and another resolution on the organisation of online trials.

Five other bills, comprising the Law on Mobile Police, the Law on Cinematography (amended), the Law on Insurance Business, the Law on Emulation and Commendation (amended), and the law amending and supplementing some articles of the Intellectual Property Law, will also be tabled for discussions.

Apart from legislative matters, the deputies will scrutinise reports on the implementation of the socio-economic development plan and state budget estimate in 2021, and COVID-19 prevention and control, along with decisions on socio-economic development plan, state budget estimate and central budget allocation plan for 2022, among others.

The NA Office has also drawn up plans for a scenario where the pandemic continues to develop complicatedly nationwide. Under the scenario, the meeting will be held in the form of teleconference entirely and without the gap between the two phases, so that the session will conclude earlier, giving time for the Government and localities to focus on the pandemic fight.