DECIDES:

Article 1.- To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Prime Minister�s Decision No.531/TTg of August 8, 1996 on the management of national target programs as follows:

Determining the program�s total capital amount, which shall include a reserve fund to cover expenses for the tasks of solving scientific and technological issues in direct service of the program as well as tasks extraordinarily arising in the course of implementing the program and be divided into annual capital amounts, and as well as orientations for mobilizing various sources of capital.

- Annually, the funds for implementation of national target programs shall be incorporated in the Central Budget�s expenditure estimates. The Ministry of Finance shall allocate funds directly to the ministries and central-level agencies for performing tasks of centrally-managed programs and allocate targeted supplementary funds to the provinces and centrally-run cities for performing tasks of locally-managed programs (excluding loans for job creation within the national target program for employment till the year 2000, which shall be allocated through the State Treasury�s system). The management of expenditures and settlement of funds of national target programs shall be carried out according to the provisions of the State Budget Law and the documents guiding such Law;

- Quarterly and annually, the ministries, the central-level agencies, and the provinces and centrally-run cities shall report the result of implementation of national target programs in the year (including the work volume, tasks and funding performed and disbursed in the reporting period) to the program managing agencies, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance.

Tasks of the agencies managing national target programs:

- To assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries, the central-level agencies and the provinces and centrally-run cities in organizing the formulation of programs and projects according to their respective tasks assigned by the Government, then send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance for evaluation before submitting them to the Prime Minister for ratification.

- To set up management boards of national target programs to assist the heads of the agencies managing and organizing the implementation of such programs and to dissolve them upon the conclusion of such target programs. The program manager shall be a leading official of a ministry or a central-level agency; the management board�s members shall include competent representatives of such sections as: planning, finance and other relevant sections. The Regulation on operation of a national target program�s management board shall be decided by the program managing agency in compliance with this Decision�s provisions. The operation fund of the program management board shall be incorporated in the regular operation fund of the program managing agency as a separate item for implementation;

- With regard to national target programs of special importance which require the participation of officials from various ministries and central-level agencies in their management boards, the composition of such program management boards and their operation regulations shall be decided by the Prime Minister;

- Annually, the program managing agencies shall have to work out target plans and estimate funding demands for implementation of their programs, then send them to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance for synthesization and submission thereof to the Government. Basing themselves on the total funding level of programs already approved by the competent authorities, the program managing agencies shall assume the prime responsibility for estimating the funding allocations to the ministries, central-level agencies and provinces and centrally-run cities according to the approved targets and tasks, then send such estimates to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance for synthesization and submission thereof to the Prime Minister for decision;

- To coordinate with the functional agencies in managing the programs� funding sources strictly according to the regulations;

- To take responsibility for settling the part of national target programs� funding disbursed directly by the ministries or central-level agencies managing such programs. Quarterly and annually, to review the implementation of national target programs by the ministries, central-level agencies, provinces and centrally-run cities and report the situation thereon to the Prime Minister, concurrently to the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance;

- To assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the functional agencies in formulating mechanisms and policies, and providing professional guidance to the ministries, central-level agencies, provinces and centrally-run cities as basis for implementation;

- To direct, urge, inspect and appraise the implementation of national target programs by the ministries, central-level agencies, provinces and centrally-run cities.

The People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities are tasked to:

- Perform the tasks prescribed at Point b, Clause 2, Article 2 of the Prime Minister�s Decision No.05/1998/QD-TTg of January 14, 1998 on the management of national target programs;

- Set up steering boards of national target programs of their respective localities to assist them in working out plans for, integrating and organizing the management of the implementation of such national target programs in their localities. The head of each steering board shall be a leading official of the People�s Committee of the province or centrally-run city. The steering board�s standing body shall be the provincial/municipal Planning and Investment Service, while its members shall include representatives of leaderships of the concerned provincial/municipal services, departments and/or branches. Each province or centrally-run city shall set up only one steering board for general management of all national target programs implemented in its locality. Operation fund of the program steering board shall be covered by the local budget.

Article 2.- The assignment of plan criteria and norms of national target programs:

- The Prime Minister shall assign to the ministers, the heads of the central-level agencies and the presidents of the provinces and centrally-run cities the total funding norms of all national target programs, including capital construction funding and public service funding;

- The Prime Minister shall authorize the Minister of Planning and Investment to assign to the ministries, central-level agencies and People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities the guiding norms in respect of targets and tasks of each program implemented in their respective localities;

- Basing themselves on the total budget estimates and targets of the national target programs as well as target programs, which are also subject to the mechanism applicable to national target programs, the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to take initiative in integrating all programs in their respective localities, allocate fund for each target and send the allocation plans to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance and the program managing agencies for implementation monitoring and inspection. The Ministry of Finance shall base itself on the localities� already registered plans to allocate and settle funds.

- The program managing agencies shall guide professional tasks and coordinate with the Ministry of Finance in guiding the expenditure norms therefor, so that the concerned provinces and cities can take initiative in performing them; they shall neither assign plans nor notify the programs� funding to their subordinate bodies in the provinces and cities.

Article 3.- This Decision takes effect as from January 1st, 2000.

The targets of the previous national programs, which were prescribed in Official Dispatch No.04/CP-VX of January 4, 1999 and Decision No.19/1998/QD-TTg of January 24, 1998 of the Prime Minister, shall continue to be eligible for the financial mechanism under this Decision till the end of 2000. From 2001 on, the ministries, central-level agencies, provinces and centrally-run cities shall allocate annual regular funds for their implementation.

Article 4.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government and the presidents of the People�s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decision.

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
PHAM GIA KHIEM