Cooperatives need effective solutions for receive support in time

At the meeting to review the work in 2022 and deploy the tasks in 2023 of the Steering Committee for Innovation and Development of Collectives and Cooperatives on April 7, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai, Chief of The Steering Committee said that in addition to the achieved results, the operation of the collective economy and cooperative sector in Vietnam remains full of difficulties and limitations.

This includes impacts of market fluctuations; small capital scale; limited staff qualifications, and slow digital transformation. Cooperatives have not yet attracted many participants and are weak in product consumption linkages. Some policies are still unsuitable to the nature, scale, and characteristics of the collective and cooperative economic model. Policy implementation resources are not mobilized effectively.

In 2023, the workload of the Steering Committee is immense, not to mention the above shortcomings and limitations. So in order to complete the tasks set out to ensure quality and make the work on schedule, members of the Steering Committee as well as ministries and branches need to continue to renew and perfect the legal framework, mechanisms, and policies to promote the development of the collective and cooperative economy. The main focus includes the Cooperative Law (amended) project, guiding documents and specific mechanisms which aim to support the collective economy, creating a premise for development in the following years.

At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the National Assembly's agencies in conducting research, absorbing comments and completing the Cooperative Law Project (amended) to submit to the National Assembly for approval at the 5th session of the 15th National Assembly.

The Deputy Prime Minister asked the drafting agency to continue "spending time, putting in more effort, asking for scientists' wisdom and absorb the opinions, perfecting the draft Cooperative Law (amended) with high quality, meeting the needs and requirements of reality, ensuring that when the Law is passed, it will soon come to life".

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai also assigned the Ministry of Finance to study, review and evaluate the general tax laws to report to the Government and the National Assembly Standing Committee for consideration, amendment, and supplementation. "It is important that there is a specific corporate income tax policy, suitable to the nature of mutual assistance of cooperative economic organizations".

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the State Bank to review and remove difficulties and obstacles in the organization and operation of People's Credit Funds in expanding operation areas, admit new members, amend regulations that cause barriers and overlap with the Cooperative Law, study and perfect regulations on internal lending in the process of amending the Cooperative Law.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Government Office to urgently review and submit to the Prime Minister to promulgate the Prime Minister's Directive on digital transformation in the field of collective economy and cooperatives under the direction of the Prime Minister at Economic Cooperative Forum 2022,

The Government Office also needs to promote communication on collective economy, cooperatives, and activities of the Steering Committee at all levels to raise awareness of the people and the whole political system about the position, role, the importance of collective economy and cooperative development in the socialist-oriented market economy.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai asked the Ministry of Information and Communications to direct press agencies to build columns on the collective economy. The Deputy Prime MInister also considered it essential to develop and discover effective collective economy and cooperative models from practice.  

Every year, members of the Steering Committee, ministries and branches must regularly monitor, urge and preside over the organization of interdisciplinary working groups in the areas assigned to them to grasp the current situation, which serves as a basis for advice on appropriate and effective policies. Competent agencies also needs to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of state management of the collective economy, prioritize the allocation of funds and the monitoring work for the contents of the collective economy and cooperative transfornation of units from central to local.