Evaluation of the implementation of laws and policies on energy development in the 2016 – 2021 period

A picture of the conference

The conference was organized by the Supervisory board of the National Assembly Standing Committee and the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations (VUSTA) with the participation of more than 100 delegates from the Commission of Management of State Capital at Enterprises, Gorvernment Office, the State Bank of Vietnam, the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, along with representatives of provincial National Assembly Delegations and experts from VUSTA. Mr. Le Quang Huy - Member of the Party Central Committee,  Head of the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment; Mr. Phan Xuan Dung - President of Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations; and Mr. Ta Dinh Thi - Vice-Chairman of the National Assembly’s Comittee on Science, Technology and Environment co-chaired the conference.

The conference aims to evaluate and summarize the implementation of policies on energy development in the 2016-2021 period; suggest the orientation for building, completing guidelines, mechanisms, legal policies and solutions for energy development; and continue completing the outlines and reports at the request of the Supervisory board.

Mr. Phan Xuan Dung - President of VUSTA

Mr. Phan Xuan Dung, President of VUSTA, stated in the conference that Vietnam is a developing country with high growth speed, so the demand for energy, especially household electricity, is also increasing. The growth of 5,99% in the national GDP during 2016-2020 period leads to the the increase of 10-11% in energy demand. Due to the fast development with the high use of energy, greenhouse emisssions from energy sector account for 63% of Vietnam's total emission in 2010 and this number is projected to be 73% and 80% in 2030 and 2045, respectively.

Roughly a year ago, scientists from VUSTA enthusiastically consulted and advised the Supreme Supervisory board of the National Assembly on the implementation of legal policies on the planning work since the Planning Law took effect. Recently, VUSTA also cooperated with the Comittee of Vietnam Fatherland Front, Ministry of National Resources and Environment to organize a meeting on “Gathering opinions from organizations and scientists on the Draft of Land Law (ammendment)” to provide further scientific-based opinions in an objective and honest way for National Assembly deputies in the process of developing Land Law.

With the same purpose, VUSTA continued cooperating with the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment to organize the conference on “The implementation of legal policies on energy development in 2016-2021 period: Current situation and Solutions”. Hopefully, with the enthusiatic contributions from the scientists, the Supervisory board will obtain valuable documents to recommend the National Assembly on improving legal policies on Vietnam's sustainable energy developement, contributing to ensure energy security and national socio-economic development” - President Phan Xuan Dung emphasized.

Mr. Le Quang Huy - Head of the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology and Environment

Mr. Le Quang Huy - Head of the National Assembly’s Committee on Science, Technology, and Environment stated that: “During the 2016-2021 period, energy sector has closely followed the development and policies of the Party and the State and has developed rapidly and relatively synchronously in all sectors and fields to obtain remarkable achievements. The achievements made by energy sector during this period is an important premise to effectively implement Politburo's Resolution 55 dated February 11, 2020 on the Orientation and development strategies of Vietnam's national energy development to 2030 and outlook to 2045”.

“However, energy sector still has some shortcomings like: the domestic energy supplies has not met the demand; the import of domestic enegery is increasing in volume; some energy security indicators are fluctuating in a negative way; the infrastructure of energy sector is deficit and inconsistent; the level of technology in some areas has not been improved; the energy market does not sustainably develop... Therefore, the National Assembly decided to supervise this topic" - Mr. Le Quang Huy emphasized.

The implementation of legal policies on energy development in Vietnam in the 2016-2021 period aims to honestly, objectively, comprehensively evaluate the implementation of those policies on energy during 2016-2021 period; detect shortcomings to clarify the causes and promptly propose the solutions for those difficulties; gain experiences in formulating and completing energy policies; and finally, recommend the solutions to improve legal policies and efficiency of the implementation of policies on energy development.

Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee of Science, Technology and Environment - Mr. Ta Dinh Thi

In the conference, Deputy Chairman of National Assembly's Committee of Science, Technology and Environment, Mr. Ta Dinh Thi suggested that experts and delegates should focus on 7 groups of issues: Investment and development situation, supply and demand; energy security, safety, and energy saving; National energy development master plan; Energy development strategy, planning, and plan; Energy transition and environmental protection, climate change application and adaptation; High-quality human resources training in science, technology, and energy industry; State management in the energy sector; Division of state management, restructuring of state-owned corporations and groups in the energy sector; Investment mechanism, competitive energy market development and price, energy reserve and backup mechanism; and other contents related to energy development (implementation of international commitments, international cooperation, society, defense, security).

Delegates attending the conference

At the conference, delegates focused on key issues such as: evaluation of the capacity to supply energy (coal, electricity, oil and gas, renewable energy) to meet the needs of economic and social development and daily life in the 2016-2021 period and with the view between 2021-2025; state management in the energy sector; energy transition, climate change response and environmental protection; implementation of building a competitive energy market, linkage between markets of various energy sectors; high-quality human resources for the energy sector in science and technology; slow progress of projects; overall evaluation of energy development planning, coordination and linkage between plans and specific evaluations for each plan.

Delegates attending the conference

The opinions also assessed the existing limitations and shortcomings in the implementation of legal policies on energy development in each sector of energy industry: coal, oil and gas, electricity, etc, and also clarified the objective and subjective causes and responsibilities of relevant organizations and individuals,  proposed specific, appropriate, and feasible directions and solutions to improve the legal policies with the aim to timely resolve the current difficulties and obstacles, and at the same time, improve the institutional framework and policies on energy development.

Head of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, Le Quang Huy, made a concluding speech.

In conclusion of the conference, Head of the National Assembly's Committee on Science, Technology and Environment, Le Quang Huy, on behalf of the supervisory board, thanked the experts and delegates who participated for having discussed the current situation, implementation and improvement of legal policies on energy development, and proposed specific solutions to help the supervisory board have practical grounds to bring out correct and effective recommendations to the National Assembly’s Standing Committee to promptly address current difficulties, while continue to improve the policy framework for energy development towards the long-term goal of ensuring a fair, national energy security transition.