Vietnam is predicted to gain gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 8.2 percent this year, compared with the 8 percent set by its National Assembly, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said Tuesday.

This year, Vietnam will see growth of 10.4-10.5 percent in industrial and construction value, 8.2-8.3 percent in services and 20 percent in export, all of which are higher than the targets, Dung said at the opening of the 11th National Assembly's 10th session.

"Vietnam has seen high economic growth over the past year, which originated from the renovation policies and the achievements in the 2001-2005 period", he stated.

The outcome in some areas this year are very outstanding, such as social investment, accounting for 41 percent in GDP, the highest level over the past many years, which contributes a lot to the GDP growth, he said, adding that export of products has grown in volume as well as values, the markets of export have continued to be broaden, and the foreign direct investment has rose up to 6. 6 billion dollars, post a year-on-year growth of 19 percent.

Progress has been made in other fields such as international integration, culture, healthcare, environmental protection, state management and administration reform despite unfavorable events including outbreaks of diseases, frequent occurrence of natural disasters and increasing world prices of key materials, especially petroleum price this year, the prime minister stated, adding that Vietnam has concluded bilateral, multilateral negotiations and completed basically the preparation work for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) late this year.

The country slashed the poverty rate to 19 percent and was estimated to face consumer price index of some 7-7.5 percent this year, basically meeting the target, Dung said.

However, Vietnam is still facing many challenges. The country is inferior to many other regional countries in terms of economic development level, technology and competitiveness. Investment efficiency and the change in economy structure is still slow, the balance of macroeconomy has not been steady, institutional reform has not met the requirement, he said.

To gain high and sustainable economic growth and overcome the challenges, Vietnam will take specific measures to stabilize macroeconomy, sharpen the competitiveness of businesses, actively integrate in the international economy, facilitate socioeconomic sectors such as agriculture, education and training, science and technology, deal with pressing problems on culture, society and environment, and speed up administration reform and anti- corruption in the 2006-2010 period.

At the 10th session, slated for from Oct. 17 to Nov. 30, the highest legislative body will discuss major socioeconomic targets for next year such as economic growth of 8.2-8.5 percent and GDP per capita of 820 U.S. dollars, export growth of 17.4 percent. The country will also eye to generate 1.6 million jobs, and providing clean water to 80 percent of urban dwellers and 67.2 percent of rural population.

Deputies are also to discuss the implementation of the anti- corruption law, reports on petition and denouncement settlement, the budget allocation in 2007, and reports of the council for the ethnic minorities on the implementation of the policy on land use for production and accommodation.

The assembly plans to pass 11 laws and one resolution, including those on tax management, vocational training, gender equality, organ and tissue donation and transplantation, and technology transference, and give opinions to six others, including those on personal income tax, quality of product and commodity, and legal assistance.

Source: Xinhua