The "fresh breeze" in the activities of the People's Council has a wider scope and more pervasive impact.

On the afternoon of March 25, in Hanoi, after a day of urgent and effective work, the Conference to review the work of People's Councils of provinces and centrally-run cities in 2023 and deploy the work plan for 2024 was successfully held.

In his concluding remarks, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue stated that after one day of work, the conference had completed the entire agenda. The National Assembly Chairman said that at the conference, there was a summary report from the National Assembly Standing Committee summarizing the work of the People's Council in 2023 and the direction and tasks for 2024, listening to the welcoming speech of Hanoi Party Secretary Dinh Tien Dung and 18 enthusiastic comments from representatives of the People's Councils of provinces/cities, the Standing Committee of the People's Council, and the Committees of the People's Council.

Acknowledging the rich and accurate opinions, the National Assembly Chairman said that after the conference, the People's Councils can learn a lot of experiences. At the same time, the recommendations and proposals at the conference are also very good suggestions for the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government, relevant agencies and organizations and for the general leadership and direction.

The National Assembly Chairman said that this conference received deep attention from central and local agencies. Attending the conference were the National Assembly Chairman, Vice Chairmen of the National Assembly, members of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Standing member of the Secretariat, Head of the Central Organization Committee Truong Thi Mai, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Luu Quang; representatives of central agencies of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy, the State Audit, ministries, branches and delegates from 63 provinces/cities. There were 48 Chairmen of People's Councils of provinces/cities attending the conference and 600 delegates.

It is stated that, after the success of the Conference summarizing the work of the People's Councils of provinces and centrally-run cities in 2022 and deploying the work plan for 2023 (the 2nd Conference in the term of the 15th National Assembly) and implementing the Conference's conclusions on the annual organization of this Conference, it demonstrates the attention of the leaders of the Party, State, National Assembly, Government in general and the National Assembly Standing Committee in particular to the organization and operation of local elected bodies (People's Councils at all levels). This also fulfills the duties and responsibilities assigned by the Constitution and the Law on the Organization of the National Assembly to the National Assembly Standing Committee - the agency assigned to guide, direct and supervise the activities of People's Councils at all levels.

The National Assembly Chairman also said that after the conference, the National Assembly Standing Committee will direct the Delegation Work Committee to synthesize the opinions expressed at the conference, along with existing reports and discussions, to compile a full report and have conference minutes sent to the delegates.

On behalf of the National Assembly Standing Committee, reviewing the results of the conference, the National Assembly Chairman said that through reviewing the reports and discussions at the conference, it was shown that 2023 has opportunities, advantages, challenges, and difficulties intertwined, in which the difficulties and challenges are more than forecast, but the country has achieved many important and quite comprehensive results, highly appreciated by international friends. In that common achievement, there are very important contributions from the National Assembly and local elected bodies. This was affirmed at the conference, the National Assembly Chairman clearly stated.

If the 2022 Conference stated: There is a breath of fresh air in the organization and operation of local elected bodies, then this Conference further confirms the above statement is correct and shows that the "fresh air" has a wider scope, more widespread impact, better and more consistent results than last year, the National Assembly Chairman shared.

The National Assembly Chairman pointed out that the workload of the People's Council last year was very large. The People's Councils of provinces and cities held 357 sessions, an average of 5.6 sessions per year per province; including many thematic sessions and extraordinary sessions. With the large number of sessions held, the number of resolutions issued was also at a record level of 6,377 resolutions, of which 1,681 resolutions were not yet legal. This shows that the legislative and rule-making work of the People's Council is very large.

Regarding supervision, there are up to 1,322 supervision teams in 63 provinces/cities, thereby discovering 13,273 problems and shortcomings. In 2023, a vote of confidence will also be taken for positions at the provincial and district levels.

The National Assembly Chairman acknowledged that the activities of the People's Council are increasingly effective and practical, contributing significantly to the implementation of socio-economic development tasks and the common tasks of the locality. The National Assembly Chairman pointed out and praised localities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Hai Phong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Quang Ninh, Bac Giang, Hau Giang, Khanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Hung Yen... The National Assembly Chairman said that reality has proven that places where the People's Council operates actively and effectively, under the leadership of the Central Government, Party committees and the cooperation of local authorities, have all developed, have a good growth rate and budget collection. This shows the important role of elected bodies. Along with that, populous provinces such as Thanh Hoa and Nghe An are growing strongly. All provinces have made great efforts. The fresh breeze is spreading in the provinces and cities with many strong changes.

At the same time, the People's Council has closely followed the provisions of the law, comprehensively performing functions from legislative work to supervision, questioning, deciding on important issues, taking votes of confidence and other tasks such as digital transformation, information technology, and foreign affairs.

In legislation and regulation, localities actively implemented laws and resolutions of the National Assembly, especially resolutions on specific policies and mechanisms. There were many innovations in supervision and questioning, especially after the National Assembly Standing Committee issued Resolution 594/NQ-UBTVQH15. Among them, Hanoi and Vinh Long issued resolutions on questioning and answering questions at the session. Attention was paid to supervision at the scene and at the supervision. Voting for confidence was carried out seriously.

Many activities have been innovated, including the provincial People's Council meetings. The activities of the Standing Committee of the People's Council have been innovated. The activities of the People's Council Committees have been strengthened. The role of the delegation and the People's Council delegates has been important. This shows that the innovations are clear and comprehensive and there are many new models and good practices. The work of receiving citizens and resolving voters' petitions has been valued and implemented better. The number of issues is greater, the resolution rate is better. All activities aim to create development, demonstrate the spirit of responsibility and community responsibility, the National Assembly Chairman emphasized.

Along with that, information and communication work is focused. Citing some good programs of some localities, the National Assembly Chairman said that these are good experiences, models that can be studied, learned, and shared among People's Councils and the National Assembly also needs to be referred to for further enhancement.

Besides, there are still limitations, including the responsibility of the People's Council, which were recognized and pointed out at the conference.

The National Assembly Chairman said that the reason for the above results was that the People's Councils at all levels closely followed the direction and leadership of the Party Committees, closely followed the resolutions of the Central Committee, the National Assembly, and the Government. There was attention and leadership from the Central Committee, the National Assembly, the Government, and the National Assembly Standing Committee, many instructions were issued promptly, and many questions from localities were also discussed, answered, and clarified. Along with that was the research and innovation of key leaders, the Standing Committee of the People's Council, the Committees of the People's Council, and the delegations. The work of close coordination between the government and the People's Council, the community of responsibility, coordination with each other from early on and from afar, coordination with the National Assembly delegation, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and central agencies.

With the common spirit of overcoming difficulties to rise up, expressing agreement with the recommendations and proposals at the conference, the National Assembly Chairman emphasized the need for the People's Council to continue to closely follow and take advantage of the leadership of the Party Committee and the Standing Committee of the Party Committee for the organization and activities of the People's Council more.

Continue to strengthen the implementation of the functions of local elected bodies to complete the tasks of 2024. In particular, focus on reviewing and perfecting local legal documents, removing obstacles, and maximizing resources. Based on the promulgated laws and resolutions, have a plan to closely implement the draft Law, especially the Land Law, Real Estate Business Law, Identity Card Law, Law on Forces Participating in Protecting Security and Order at the Grassroots Level, Law on Water Resources... and resolutions on specific policies, implementing national target programs with many tasks assigned to local authorities... Conduct a general review of administrative procedures; review the implementation of public investment capital disbursement; prepare for the public investment plan of the next term; accelerate the implementation of the tasks of the term.

Comprehensively innovating the activities of the People's Council, including innovating the People's Council sessions, is the most important; continuing to improve the quality of People's Council sessions, focusing on district-level People's Council sessions, paying attention to commune-level People's Council sessions; paying attention to launching emulation and reward movements.

Emphasizing that the quality of delegates determines the quality of activities of elected bodies, the National Assembly Chairman suggested paying attention to encouraging and motivating the activities of People's Council Committees and People's Council Delegation Groups.

Strengthening local people's petition work, increasing citizen reception, resolving complaints and denunciations, and innovating voter contact.

Pay attention to implementing the arrangement of administrative units at district and commune levels.

Propose that all levels pay attention to planning the staff and delegates of People's Councils at all levels; introduce personnel to move towards Party Congresses at all levels.

Strengthen activities to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the founding of the country, the 85th anniversary of the People's Council's tradition day, and the 80th anniversary of the National Assembly General Election.

Propose that the People's Council actively contribute to policy making and amendments to the Law on Supervisory Activities of the National Assembly and People's Councils; joint resolution on voters' contact between National Assembly deputies and People's Council deputies; model regulations of the People's Council; review of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Government.

Regarding the recommendations and proposals of localities, the National Assembly Chairman said that in 2022, 44/60 recommendations and proposals have been implemented and resolved, and the National Assembly Standing Committee will continue to direct the resolution. Regarding the recommendations at this year's Conference, the National Assembly Chairman assigned the Delegation Work Committee to be the focal point for synthesizing all the recommendations and proposals raised by localities to report to the National Assembly Standing Committee for direction on serious consideration and resolution.