General Secretary To Lam: All for the common good of the country, for the people.
General Secretary To Lam requested that Party committees, Party organizations, and leaders at all levels focus on leading and directing the decisive implementation of tasks in the spirit of "playing their roles correctly and knowing their lines," coordinating synchronously, smoothly, and closely from the central level to the local level and between localities, without any "my way or your way" mentality, "this locality or that locality," all for the common good of the country and the people.
On the morning of April 16, the Politburo and the Secretariat of the Central Committee held a national conference to disseminate and implement the Resolution of the 11th Plenum of the 13th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam.
Be cautious, thorough, systematic, and avoid haste and overconfidence.
In his address to the conference, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the significance and importance of the conference as well as the contents discussed, and stated that these are issues that cadres, Party members, and the people are very interested in, following, and hoping to see implemented soon.
The General Secretary stated that, based on absolute consensus, at the 11th Conference, the Central Committee issued Resolution No. 60-NQ/TW dated April 12, 2025, with many particularly important contents, focusing on two groups of issues: continuing to streamline the organizational structure, rearranging administrative units, organizing local governments at two levels, and preparing for the 14th National Congress of the Party.
"These issues are closely related and are all key, urgent matters that must be focused on immediately after this conference and until the end of 2025," the General Secretary emphasized.
General Secretary To Lam also stated that one of the new points in organizing the dissemination and implementation of the Party's Resolution is that the policy is clear, the plan, schedule, and implementation roadmap are specific, with clear responsibilities, tasks, methods, and completion times, so that implementation can begin immediately after the conference.
Following this conference, the General Secretary requested that agencies, units, and localities identify the tasks that need to be done in the coming period; each cadre and Party member has also envisioned their individual responsibility in the country's overall revolution.
Party committees and organizations at all levels are responsible for continuing to study and thoroughly understand the contents of the resolution and developing specific action plans and programs for its implementation.
In the context of simultaneously implementing a huge volume of work, with a wide scope, short timeframe, high quality, and many unprecedented tasks, and to ensure unity in leadership and guidance in implementation, General Secretary To Lam emphasized the need to demonstrate the highest political determination in leading and directing the implementation of the Resolution of the 11th Central Committee Meeting of the 13th Party Congress. Specifically, it is necessary to recognize this as a revolution in organizational restructuring, administrative unit reorganization, and reform and innovation for national development.
Party committees, party organizations, and leaders at all levels must be thorough and decisive in leading, directing, and ensuring that cadres and party members fully and deeply understand the special importance of this policy, creating unity of understanding and thought throughout the Party and spreading it throughout society, and resolutely striving to successfully achieve the goals and directions set by the Central Committee.
The General Secretary emphasized the need for focused leadership and guidance to ensure that agencies decisively implement tasks in a manner that reflects their roles and responsibilities, coordinating synchronously, smoothly, and closely from the central level to the local level and between localities. There should be no "my way or your way" mentality, no "this locality or that locality" mentality; everything must be for the common good of the country and the people.
The General Secretary also emphasized that Party committees and organizations at all levels should implement tasks in a "proactive and organized" manner, but with caution, certainty, and a systematic approach, avoiding haste and complacency; prioritizing tasks thoroughly, ensuring that each task is completed properly, considering related issues, and adhering strictly to prescribed procedures and regulations, "avoiding shortcuts, carelessness, or superficiality in any task."
In particular, the General Secretary suggested that it is necessary to adhere closely to the timelines in the plan, ensuring that all tasks are carried out on schedule, especially the important deadlines. He encouraged localities, agencies, and units to complete tasks ahead of schedule, in the spirit of "early stabilization for development."
Strengthening information and communication to create social consensus, fully promoting the people's right to self-governance, respecting and listening to the people's opinions, and ensuring that the processes and procedures for soliciting public opinion are carried out in accordance with regulations, especially regarding amendments and additions to the Constitution, the merger of provinces, and the merger of communes.
"The country is our homeland."
Regarding the implementation of the policy on rearranging and reorganizing administrative units and building a two-tiered local government, General Secretary To Lam stated that the implementation of this policy will have a certain impact on the thoughts and feelings of cadres, Party members, and the people.
“This is understandable, because every Vietnamese person has deeply ingrained in their memory images of their hometown, the place where they were born and raised. However, in the face of the country's new development requirements, we must change our thinking and vision; unify our understanding and ideology; overcome ourselves, sacrifice personal interests for the common good of the country; overcome anxieties, worries, and normal habits; overcome regional mindsets and sentiments to move towards a broader thinking and vision – ‘the country is our homeland’,” the General Secretary emphasized.
The General Secretary emphasized the need to continue to thoroughly understand that streamlining the political system's apparatus, merging provinces, eliminating district-level organizations, and merging communes are not simply matters of adjusting organizational structures and administrative boundaries, but also of adjusting economic space, the division of labor, decentralization, and resource allocation for development.
The General Secretary suggested that both tendencies need to be overcome: Merging communes and wards that are too large, creating a "miniature district," leading to a lack of effective management of the area and inability to proactively serve the people, thus turning the policy of "not organizing a district level into not organizing a commune level"; or merging communes and wards that are too small, leading to limitations in space and development potential, and resulting in more bureaucratic layers, leading to inefficiency.
The Standing Committees of the provinces must discuss and calculate very carefully, with a long-term vision, for the benefit of the country and the people, in order to come up with the most reasonable arrangement and deployment plan.
General Secretary To Lam
Regarding personnel work, General Secretary To Lam requested that Party committees and organizations at all levels strictly adhere to the principle of unified Party leadership in building organizational structures, personnel work, managing the workforce and staffing of the political system; they must be extremely fair and objective in personnel placement; and they must fully implement regulations and guidelines on personnel work to ensure transparency, strengthen control over power, and link power with individual responsibility.
Prevent disunity, vested interests, seeking positions and power through illicit means, parochialism, factionalism, corruption, and wastefulness in the process of appointing and arranging cadres, and reorganizing the organizational structure and administrative units at all levels.
The selection and placement of leaders, especially the heads of provincial and commune-level agencies after mergers, must be carried out effectively; a comprehensive and interconnected approach is necessary across all four stages: personnel placement after mergers; personnel for provincial and commune-level Party congresses; personnel for the 14th National Party Congress; and personnel for elections to the National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels.
"Personnel work has always been very important, and now it is even more crucial in the face of new demands. The first criterion for appointing cadres is the requirements of the job, followed by other criteria. Personnel at all levels and those for the 14th Party Congress must possess 'sufficient virtue, talent, dedication, vision, strength, and revolutionary enthusiasm' to shoulder the historical responsibilities of the country," the General Secretary emphasized.
The selection and placement of leading officials in local agencies after mergers and consolidations is the responsibility of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee at each level, according to the hierarchical structure. They must discuss and agree on the placement to ensure "the right person for the right job," in accordance with the spirit of Conclusion No. 150-KL/TW of the Politburo on guiding the building of personnel for provincial-level Party committees subject to mergers and consolidations, and for newly established communes.
General Secretary To Lam stated that, in the current situation, there is no place for opportunistic, self-serving, mediocrity-driven, indecisive, and reform-averse officials who prioritize personal gain. Those who feel they do not meet the requirements should voluntarily step aside, making way for more deserving individuals – voluntarily stepping back for the sake of development is an act of courage, integrity, and something to be proud of and praised.
Regarding the documents for the Party congresses at all levels, the General Secretary requested that provincial and city Party committees focus on leading and organizing thorough, in-depth, and effective discussions on the viewpoints, goals, policies, and major orientations outlined in the draft documents of the 14th Party Congress; and promptly develop and finalize the draft documents for their respective levels, completing them before June 30, 2025 (including for provinces after mergers).
Although the merger has not been officially completed, we must think and plan to outline the development direction for the newly established province and commune based on the new spatial context, available resources, and potential.
Regarding the implementation of the Resolution of the 11th Central Committee Meeting of the 13th Party Congress simultaneously with carrying out other important national tasks, the General Secretary affirmed that all these tasks are very important and must be carried out according to the set goals and requirements, "without neglecting any task because of organizational restructuring."
Provincial and municipal Party committees need to urgently address the shortcomings and limitations pointed out by the 19 inspection teams of the Politburo and the Secretariat, especially the situation where some leaders and officials have a wait-and-see attitude, thus limiting their decisiveness in implementing tasks...
General Secretary To Lam requested that efforts be focused on organizing well the activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of the South and the reunification of the country; the 80th anniversary of the August Revolution and National Day on September 2nd, reviving the heroic spirit of the entire nation of the past, transforming it into a driving force to successfully carry out the important, urgent, and revolutionary tasks that the entire Party, people, and army are striving to accomplish today.
With a busy and urgent task ahead, General Secretary To Lam urged all comrades, from the Central Committee to the grassroots, to demonstrate a high level of responsibility to the Party, the State, and the people, focusing their leadership and guidance with the highest determination to achieve the goals set forth in the Resolution of the 11th Central Committee Meeting of the 13th Party Congress, preparing a solid foundation for the 14th Party Congress, and leading the country steadily into an era of prosperous and strong development for the Vietnamese nation.
Responding to the comprehensive, insightful, thorough, specific, and heartfelt directives from General Secretary To Lam, as well as the content conveyed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man, and other Party and State leaders assigned by the Politburo to present at the conference, the Head of the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department, Nguyen Trong Nghia, stated that the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department has chaired and coordinated with central departments, ministries, and agencies to develop and issue guidelines on the dissemination of resolutions and conclusions of the Central Committee, the Politburo, the Secretariat, and the Central Steering Committee on summarizing the implementation of Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW, especially the 11th Central Committee Meeting of the 13th Party Congress and the General Secretary's directives at today's conference.
The Head of the Central Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department urged cadres and Party members to quickly implement the resolutions and conclusions of the Central Committee; he requested that Party committees, Party organizations, government agencies, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, and political and social organizations focus on leading, directing, and implementing propaganda work to thoroughly, comprehensively, and effectively disseminate the resolutions of the Central Committee Conference, closely linking them to the political tasks of each locality, agency, and unit; strengthening the guiding role, promptly combating and contributing to creating unity in awareness and action throughout the entire political system and creating consensus in society, igniting the "flame of faith" to bring the Party's policies and guidelines into life...