Statement

By

H.E. Mr. Thongsing Thammavong,

President of the National Assembly

To the opening of the 3rd Ordinary Session

Of the VIth Legislature of the National Assembly

18 June 2007

                                                   

- Excellency Mr. Choummaly Saiyasone,

  General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary  

  Party and President of Lao PDR,

 

- Respected Politburo Members,

                                                                               

- Honorable Members of the National Assembly,

- Distinguished foreign and Lao guests,

 

Today, we get together to officially open the 3rd Ordinary Session of the VIth Legislature of the National Assembly which is being conducted just after the closure of the 4th Plenary Meeting of the Party Central Committee.

 

On this occasion, the session would like to express its appreciation and congratulations to His Excellency the General Secretary and President of the Lao PDR, the Respected politburo members, members of the Party Central Committee, cabinet members, representatives of Party and State Organs, representatives of Mass Organizations, Senior Citizens, Business Community, Diplomatic Corps and International Organizations for taking time attending this Opening Session.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

It has been for six months since the conclusion of the 2nd Session of the VIth Legislature that the National Assembly has actively exercise its role and functions as authorized by the Nation and the people; despite this short period of time, the National Assembly has done its utmost to accomplish the tasks with high level of responsibility, especially in overseeing and monitoring the implementation of Socio-economic Development Plan and State Budget of the FY 2006-2007.

 

On Overall, our Country is continuing to enjoy peace and political stability, social order has been improved, economy is continuing to enjoy a steady growth, political system has been strengthened, the multi ethnic Lao people are united and lives in harmony, Lao PDR actively promotes friendly relations and cooperation with countries in the region and the world.

 

Nevertheless, there is a lot of space for us to improve, especially in terms of   effectiveness and efficiency of the management of the State; the organization and mechanism dealing with personnel management have not been appropriately strengthened, revenue generation for state budget is still lower than expenditure required and, living condition of state employees continues to be difficult. There have been efforts in rural development and poverty reduction, commodity production, social problem solution, education quality raising and political leadership strengthening at grass-root level and so on. However, result attained through these efforts is still lower than expectation. The Management of State by the Rule of Law has not been effective enough, rules and Laws established and promulgated have not been strictly implemented, social justice has not been proactively improved.

 

Distinguished quests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

This 3rd Session is a year-end session, therefore we have to assess the implementation of the works in the previous one year period in order to find out weaknesses and shortfalls, their causes and remedies in the spirit of  unity in direction and measures to be employed in future implementation. The Session will consider and adopt the followings:

 

  1. Report of the Government on the Implementation of Socio-economic Development Plan and State Budget of FY 2006-2007 and Work Plan for FY 2007-2008;
  2. Report of the People’s Supreme Court on the Implementation of works of the Court during 2006-2007 with emphasis on the implementation of Laws by relevant sectors and directions for future improvement;
  3. Report by the Supreme Public Prosecutor on activities taken by the Organization during 2006-2007 with emphasis on the monitoring of the implementation of the Constitution and Laws by relevant organs nation wide and direction for future improvement;
  4. Report of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on the oversight of the Socio-economic Development Plan and State Budget of FY 2006-2007, Action Plan on Rural Development and Poverty Reduction, progress in solving Social Problems, the monitoring of the works of the public prosecutors in handling cases and the decision of the courts and their respective work plan for 2007-2008;
  5. Report of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on the Implementation of its activities during 2006-2007 and Work Plan of the National Assembly for 2007-2008;  
  6. Consideration and adoption of 3 newly created laws, namely:

-          Law on the People’s Security Forces

-          Law on State Auditing  and

-          Law on State Inspection  

 

The Session will also consider and adopt amendments of two currently effective laws, such as:

-          Law on Accounting and

-          Law on Education  

    

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

In order to meet objectives and targets set fort for this Session, I would like to invite all the members of the National Assembly to raise-up the level of responsibility and to jointly exercise democratic rights in making intellectual efforts to consider and commend on the reports of the Government, the People’s Supreme Court, the Supreme Public Prosecutor, Laws and other subjects of the session. Attention shall also focus on the implementation of role and functions of the national assembly objectively in order to identify strengths that will be further promoted and weaknesses to be rightly addressed in consistence with reality of each period.

 

The new laws and the amendments to the existing laws put forwards for the consideration of this session are highly significant because in many previous sessions, the National Assembly adopted mostly the laws serving the economic and administrative areas but this session will consider and adopt laws associated with inspection and auditing, education and public security.     

 

In order to ensure correctness, consistency and clarity of the substance and the interpretation of each articles and chapters of the laws; I once again request all the members to increase their ownership bearing firmly in mind  policies, objectives and targets set fort. Members are requested to maximize their intellectual responsibility in scrutinizing individual laws in order to ensure quality in a united manner.

 

At the same time, I request Government’s Cabinet Members and representatives of party and states organs, mass organizations and all other relevant sectors to actively follow the session and to extend their full support and cooperation in order to make this session successful.

 

On this auspicious and meaningful occasion, as Chair person of this session, I hereby declare    the official opening of the 3rd Session of the VIth National Assembly from this second onward.

 

 

                                                Thank you Very Much!