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Vietnam The Council of Ministers
The Council of Ministers is entrusted by the 1980
Constitution with managing and implementing the governmental
activities of the state. It is described in that document as "the
Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the highest
executive and administrative state body of the highest body of
state authority." It is accountable to the National Assembly,
and, more directly, to the Council of State when the National
Assembly is not in session. Its duties include submitting draft
laws, decrees, and other bills to the National Assembly and the
Council of State; drafting state plans and budgets and
implementing them following the National Assembly's approval;
managing the development of the national economy; organizing
national defense activities and assuring the preparedness of the
armed forces; and organizing and managing the state's foreign
relations. Its membership includes a chairman, vice chairman,
cabinet ministers, and the heads of state committees, whose terms
of office coincide with that of the National Assembly. The
Council of Ministers includes its own standing committee, which
serves to coordinate and mobilize the council's activities. In
1986 the standing committee was expanded from ten to thirteen
members.
Each ministry is headed by a minister, who is assisted by two
to twelve vice ministers. The number and functions of the
ministries are not prescribed in the Constitution, but in 1987
there were twenty-three ministries, and a number of other
specialized commissions and departments. In apparent response to
the call by the Sixth National Party Congress in 1986 for a
streamlined bureaucracy, several ministries were merged. The
former ministries of agriculture, food, and food industry were
joined in a newly created Ministry of Agriculture and Food
Industry. The ministries of power and mines were merged to form
the Ministry of Energy, and a newly created Ministry of Labor,
War Invalids, and Social Welfare consolidated the duties of three
former ministries. The addition of two new ministerial bodies
also resulted from the 1986 Congress: a Ministry of Information
to replace the Vietnam Radio and Television Commission, and a
Commission for Economic Relations with Foreign Countries to act
as a coordinating body for foreign aid.
Data as of December 1987
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