Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh: We must start working immediately from the first day after Tet.

On the afternoon of February 22nd (the 6th day of the Lunar New Year, Year of the Horse 2026), Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired a meeting of the Government Standing Committee to assess the situation during the Lunar New Year holiday and to implement key tasks after the holiday.

The conference was attended by Deputy Prime Ministers; Deputy Secretaries of the Government Party Committee; Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies and government agencies; and leaders of ministries, branches, and central agencies.

At the conference to review and implement the Party Central Committee's Directive on organizing the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2026, the Prime Minister issued one Directive, four Telegrams, Decisions, and many other related guiding documents, organizing activities to celebrate the 14th Party Congress and the Lunar New Year of the Horse 2026.

Ministries, agencies, and localities have thoroughly understood and promptly implemented all aspects of work with the spirit of "ensuring no one is left without a Tet celebration."

During the Tet holiday, healthcare facilities nationwide maintained medical examination and treatment services, emergency services, and ensured sufficient preparation and supply of medicines, medical supplies, and equipment; no cases of diphtheria or other infectious diseases were recorded; the country recorded 1,431 new cases of dengue fever and 955 new cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease.

Across the country, Tet gifts were distributed with a total budget of over 3.7 trillion VND to 6.2 million recipients; the average Tet bonus for workers was 8.69 million VND/person, a 13% increase compared to the Tet bonus in 2025, with the highest bonus reaching 1.84 billion VND/person; businesses also provided other practical support and arranged reasonable Tet holiday time for their employees.

The nationwide market remained stable during the Tet holiday, with a guaranteed supply of essential goods for the people to celebrate the holiday. There were no sudden price increases or instances of exploiting shortages for illicit profit.

During the Lunar New Year holiday, thousands of officials, workers, and laborers worked tirelessly day and night on many important national projects and key construction sites to ensure progress.

Spring festivities and Lunar New Year celebrations are organized in conjunction with activities commemorating the successful conclusion of the 14th National Congress of the Party and the 96th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of Vietnam. These activities ensure that the spring celebrations are practical, safe, economical, and in line with the civilized lifestyle, traditions, and good customs of the nation, creating a joyful and enthusiastic atmosphere among all segments of the population.

Agencies, units, localities, and media outlets should seriously and effectively carry out information and propaganda work, closely adhering to the Party's guidelines, the State's policies and laws, and the Government and Prime Minister's directives and management, in conjunction with the theme of celebrating the Party, celebrating the Spring, and celebrating the Nation; while also strengthening information dissemination in multiple languages ​​to record the vibrant Tet atmosphere of the Vietnamese community abroad.

Local authorities and relevant agencies effectively organized traffic safety measures. Throughout the Tet holiday period, 339 traffic accidents occurred nationwide, resulting in 208 deaths and 235 injuries. Compared to the same period in 2025, traffic accidents continued to decrease across all three criteria: number of incidents, number of deaths, and number of injuries. However, one waterway accident occurred on Thac Ba Lake in Lao Cai province, leaving six people missing.

Relevant forces maintained patrol and control checkpoints, strictly managing borders, border gates, and seaports to prevent illegal entry and exit; ensuring absolute security and safety for the activities of Party and State leaders, key targets and projects, and important national events; and intensified attacks and suppression of all types of crime... The political security and social order throughout the country remained stable during the Tet holiday.

At the meeting, government members requested that all levels and sectors direct the organization of work seriously from the first day of returning to work; have monetary policies and timely adaptation solutions in response to the evolving global situation; immediately implement socio-economic development tasks; promote the disbursement of public investment; and properly organize the tasks according to regulations for the election of the 16th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2026-2031 term…

Concluding the meeting, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh commended the government members for their full and responsible attendance, while also criticizing those who were absent.

Reviewing the positive and comprehensive results in all aspects of serving the people during the Lunar New Year celebrations, as well as the activities throughout the Tet holiday, the Prime Minister affirmed that the whole country celebrated the Lunar New Year in a joyful, warm, safe, healthy, and meaningful way, in accordance with the directives of the Party Central Committee and the Prime Minister; and at the same time, effectively and efficiently served the very successful working visit of General Secretary To Lam to the United States.

Commending ministries, sectors, localities, especially their leaders, and the medical, police, military, worker, engineer, and other forces who have made efforts and sacrificed personal pleasures for the country and the people, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized that the tasks for 2026 are very challenging.

This includes ensuring macroeconomic stability; controlling inflation; promoting growth; maintaining major economic balances; effectively controlling the state budget deficit, public debt, government debt, and foreign debt; improving the material and spiritual lives of the people; maintaining national independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity; and ensuring security, order, and social safety.

Emphasizing the need to get to work immediately from day one, the Prime Minister directed Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, and chairpersons of provincial People's Committees to closely monitor the situation in the country and the world to respond flexibly, promptly, and effectively; strengthen administrative, labor, financial, budgetary, expenditure, and spending discipline; promote savings and combat waste; cut unnecessary spending; accelerate the disbursement of public investment capital, striving to achieve 100% disbursement; strictly and decisively address the IUU yellow card; strengthen state management of beliefs, religions, and festivals; ensure healthy cultural programs; implement the Tree Planting Festival; fully and effectively implement social security policies; accelerate the construction of 100 multi-level border boarding schools, and prepare for the simultaneous commencement of the remaining 148 schools this February.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh also directed that resources be focused on building and ensuring the quality of draft laws; that detailed regulations for the implementation of laws already enacted, effective from January 1, 2026, be urgently developed, promulgated, and submitted for promulgation; that the plan for state administrative reform for the period 2026-2030 be focused on; that the reception and processing of administrative procedures at the two levels of local government be organized; and that civil judgment enforcement be carried out decisively.

Ministries, sectors, and localities must focus on effectively implementing the Resolution of the 14th National Congress of the Party, the strategic resolutions of the Politburo, and the directives of the Politburo, the Secretariat, the Government, and the Prime Minister; prepare well for the election of the 16th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2026-2031 term; and focus on launching emulation movements and awarding timely commendations.

The Prime Minister instructed the Ministry of Finance to manage expansionary fiscal policy in a rational, focused, and targeted manner through public investment programs at all levels of authority; to implement a 10% reduction in expenditures from the beginning of the year, and a 5% reduction in development investment spending; and to strengthen control and inspection of revenue and expenditure activities and project construction from the outset, combating waste and corruption.

The State Bank of Vietnam proactively and flexibly manages monetary policy, coordinating closely with other policies to ensure macroeconomic stability, directing credit to priority sectors, controlling inflation while promoting growth; and closely monitoring the gold market.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is controlling market prices and monitoring the impact of the 10% additional import tariff recently imposed by the US in order to respond promptly; it is determined to prevent energy shortages.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment closely monitors agricultural production, meteorological conditions, and issues warnings and measures to prevent drought and saltwater intrusion; and inspects irrigation works.

The Ministry of Construction is reviewing key national transportation projects; urgently collecting tolls on completed expressways that meet standards, in accordance with regulations; and ensuring smooth traffic flow on the expressway from Cao Bang to Ca Mau.

The Ministry of Education and Training is working to stabilize the situation for students after the Tet holiday; monitoring, maintaining, and improving issues related to textbooks, facilities, foreign language teaching, etc.

The Ministry of Science and Technology is leading the programs and effectively implementing Resolution 57-NQ/TW; calling on Vietnamese intellectuals abroad to return and contribute to the country.

The Ministry of Interior is implementing election preparations. The Ministry of Justice is stepping up policy communication and developing legislation according to its assigned functions. The Ministry of Public Security is monitoring traffic accidents, implementing Project 06 to support the operation of the two-tiered local government, and focusing on suppressing various types of crime.

The Ministry of National Defence upholds independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity, builds peaceful, cooperative, and friendly borders with neighboring countries, and deploys military forces at the grassroots level in accordance with the Politburo's Resolution.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is responsible for monitoring the situation, proposing timely responses to global developments, and tracking and assessing the impact of the new US tariffs. The Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions is doing a good job in religious affairs, ensuring their healthy development.

The Government Inspectorate needs to identify key areas for inspection, especially national priority programs, to prevent minor shortcomings from accumulating into major violations; and to resolve citizens' complaints definitively.

News agencies and media outlets should intensify comprehensive and widespread dissemination of information about the success of the 14th Party Congress, the achievements of the past term, and the implementation of tasks; provide full and objective information, creating a new momentum and spirit for development; and encourage the spirit of striving to achieve a growth target of 10% or more this year. State-owned corporations and enterprises must strive to achieve a growth rate of 10% or more.

Emphasizing the requirement of implementing "1 objective, 2 guarantees, 3 yes, 4 no, 5 clarification, 6 clarity" in the deployment of tasks, the Prime Minister called on officials and employees nationwide to promote the spirit of patriotic emulation, perform their duties to the best of their ability, and engage in creative and innovative labor; he requested that members of the Government, Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, agencies directly under the Government, and Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and cities proactively carry out their assigned tasks with the spirit of "The Party has directed, the Government has agreed, the National Assembly has concurred, the people support, and the Fatherland expects, so let's only discuss doing - not retreating."