Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien: Decree No.67 will not be amended but needs to be replaced

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Phung Duc Tien assessed that Decree No.67/2014/ND-CP (‘Decree No.67’) of the Government on some fisheries development policies issued on 7/7/2014 has brought about meaningful.

"The first achievement is the construction of a fleet of more than 30,000 vessels with 15 meters or more. Also, nearly 1 million fishermen at sea are "living milestones" ensuring national defense and security tasks of maintaining sovereignty over the sea and islands," said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.

The second achievement, the policies in Decree No.67, has helped the fishing output grow relatively steadily, improving seafood export value. However, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said that the implementation of Decree No.67 is still limited and has not met the requirements from practice. Typically, to build 1,117 fishing vessels (to build 1,031 new ships, repair 146 ships) according to Decree No.67, the loan source is VND 11,700 billion; However, only VND 2,180 billion has been disbursed, the remaining VND 9,500 billion.

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, by the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, the bad debt ratio of the support program to build and upgrade fishing boats reached 62.7%. "With such shortcomings, finding a solution is a big problem that the new Decree of the fisheries industry needs to remove and overcome," noted Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.

In the 2016-2020 period, the total state budget investment in the fisheries sector is about VND 13,600 billion. It is expected that investment resources for the fisheries sector in the 2021-2025 period will be VND 23,000 billion. The investment capital demand for 2026 - 2030 is expected to be equal to the 2021-2025 period.

Thus, the total need for investment resources for the fisheries sector to implement policies under the new decree, ensure the completion of the objectives of the Fisheries Development Strategy to 2030, the planning of fishing ports, and sheltering anchorages storms to 2030, the planning on conservation and exploitation of aquatic resources to 2030, the national programs, programs and projects on the development of the fisheries sector by 2030 are estimated at VND 46,000 billion.

According to Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien, in the past time, although a lot of capital has been invested, the actual effectiveness and efficiency of the policies are not high.

Firstly, the new decree must be inherited and summarized from practice strictly and indeed so that the policies must ensure effectiveness and efficiency when it comes to life. "When formulating policies, we need to ask ourselves: What will return on investment like this. There must be another decree to repair, remedy, or replace this new decree to avoid the situation. And Decree No.67 is a typical example," said Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien.

Secondly, with the spirit of "public investment leading investment", "dismantling institutions, unleashing resources," along with the market mechanism and tasks of defense and security, the new decree of the fishery industry must be able to answer the following questions: Why is support needed? What are the support criteria? How much capital is expected, and how effective will it be?…

"Thirdly, the new decree must be economically effective and have social and national defense and security effects. The decree Drafting Committee needs to interpret and evaluate this issue because it is the soul of investment and policy", the leader of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development emphasized.

Fourthly, the issue of conservation, fishery control, and marine aquaculture also needs to be reviewed from criteria, the scope of regulation, subjects under management to mechanisms and policies... and must be clarified in the new decree.

Fifth, the new decree needs to be considered in the institutional building stage, avoiding the situation that policies have loopholes and are taken advantage of.

Sixth, the new decree needs to shorten administrative procedures to avoid wasting the time and effort of businesses and people.

Seventh, for many years, the investment in the infrastructure of the fishery industry has not been paid attention to, leading to the infrastructure, from exploitation to farming being sloppy and degraded. The new decree needs to stick to the Fisheries Industry Development Strategy, the Fisheries Law, solutions to remove the yellow card for IUU, and clearly state the responsibilities of localities in investing in upgrading infrastructure and reducing fishing intensity, increasing conservation to form an ecosystem and driving force for sustainable fisheries development.