Politburo agrees to provide further assistance to COVID-19-hit workers and businesses

From left: President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during a Politburo meeting on Friday in Ha Noi to discuss support policies for COVID-19-hit for workers and employers

At the conclusion of the meeting, after hearing reports from the Politburo members and agencies present, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic has had great impacts on all production, trade, and services, especially in industrial zones and businesses that employ many people and in provinces and cities with high population density.

Workers’ jobs, livelihoods, and incomes have been severely affected, he added.

The Politburo highly appreciates the initiative and proactiveness of ministries, agencies, and local authorities in implementing the instructions of the Politburo, Secretariat, National Assembly and especially Government’s Resolution No.42/NQ-CP, dated April 9, 2020, on measures to assist people hit hard by the pandemic.

The support has helped minimise the damage caused by outbreaks, contributed to economic recovery, and ensured the livelihoods and safety of the people, which has helped enhance the trust of the people in the Party and State’s policies, Trong noted.

The Politburo agreed in principle on further support policies for employees and employers affected by COVID-19, based on the lessons learned from the implementation of the Government’s Resolution No.42, with attention paid to properly identifying eligible groups, determining an appropriate support level for each group, and ensuring the transparency and effectiveness of the support policies.

The National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control, ministries, agencies, and local governments must closely follow the on-the-ground outbreak developments to carry out timely responses, strengthen measures to closely detect and handle violations, and prevent corruption, loss and waste in the implementation of the support policies.

Party leader Trong stressed that while Vietnam’s COVID-19 prevention and control efforts have been laudable, the pandemic is still a complex issue, so further support for employees and employers would be necessary to achieve the dual goals of maintaining socio-economic development while keeping the disease under control.

With the Politburo’s consensus, he urged the Government to soon issue a new resolution on the support measures, ensuring the support will go to the right people and that the procedures for receiving the support would not be too cumbersome.

VNS