Provinces that are 'too small' should merge to create more space for development.

Associate Professor Tran Duc Cuong discussed the central government's direction on merging provinces and abolishing district-level administrations.

In the government's proposal submitted to the Politburo for consideration, there is a plan to reduce the number of provinces by 50% and the number of grassroots-level administrative units by 60-70%. As a researcher, what is your assessment of this "revolution" in restructuring and streamlining the current political system and apparatus?

I believe that the ongoing streamlining of the organizational structure and apparatus is a revolutionary reform. I, and the people, strongly support this initiative. As a historian, I see this as a matter of principle.

Throughout history, there have been many administrative reforms similar to the one we see today. Specifically, starting in the 19th century, King Minh Mạng implemented administrative reforms from the central government to the local level. He divided the country into 30 provinces and one Thừa Thiên prefecture. Such reforms helped to make the system of government agencies more streamlined and efficient.

In 2017, the Party issued Resolution 18 on reforming and reorganizing the political system's apparatus. However, for various reasons, the implementation of the resolution has not yielded many results.

Under current circumstances, the Party and State's resolute implementation of reforms, restructuring, and reorganization of the administrative apparatus is absolutely necessary. Because if the majority of the budget is used to maintain the apparatus, there will be no resources left for investment in national development. Therefore, it is necessary to streamline the apparatus, reduce the number of administrative agencies, and merge agencies with similar tasks and responsibilities.

Specifically, the merger of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is logical. The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs was established after our successful resistance war for national liberation and needed to address policy issues for veterans, but now, 50 years after national reunification, restructuring it and eliminating the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs is reasonable.

Regarding the policy of merging some provinces, I believe that since our country currently has 63 provinces and cities, consolidating them is necessary.

There was a period after the war against the US to save the country when the Party and State merged several localities, for example: Ha Son Binh, Ha Tuyen, Hoang Lien Son, Minh Hai, Binh Tri Thien... but later, for various reasons, they were separated again.

We see many countries that are much larger and have much larger populations than Vietnam, but have fewer provinces and cities. Vietnam can learn from their experiences to implement similar policies.

Given the current socio-economic conditions and information technology, how many provinces and cities do you think would be appropriate? When considering mergers, what historical and cultural factors should be taken into account?

In my opinion, we cannot arbitrarily decide on the exact number of provinces. However, localities with very small areas and limited resources for infrastructure, socio-economic development, and human resources should be merged. This would give those provinces more space for development.

In addition, mergers must be based on research into many factors related to geographical, economic, political, cultural conditions, and even community psychology.

Regarding the names and place names of the provinces after the merger, careful discussion is necessary, as it also falls under cultural factors, as I mentioned above.

For some provinces with large areas and many favorable conditions for development, the consideration of merging with other localities must be carefully studied and weighed.

In reality, when restructuring the administrative apparatus, there will be a large surplus of staff. In your opinion, how should the authorities address this issue?

We must face the reality that restructuring the system will result in a large number of redundant personnel. Therefore, careful selection is necessary; those who meet the requirements and tasks of the new situation should be assigned to positions within the system, from the central level to the grassroots. Those who are unsuitable can be assigned to other jobs according to their abilities and strengths.

When reorganizing and merging administrative structures, it is necessary to improve the management capacity of local officials. Therefore, the functions and responsibilities of the apparatus need to be defined to better suit practical requirements.