Streamlining the system will ensure a highly competent and skilled workforce.

VThe streamlining of the administrative apparatus is always linked to restructuring and improving the quality of the staff and civil servants, ensuring that it does not affect work efficiency. This is also a crucial requirement of General Secretary To Lam when he affirmed that this is a "revolution" to prepare a highly skilled workforce for the management and administration apparatus as the country enters a new era.

Since the time the article was written:Compact - Powerful - High Performance - Effective - EfficientThe policy announced by General Secretary To Lam has been in effect for exactly three months – a very short time for a major Party policy to be implemented. However, what is happening shows that the political system is determined to comprehensively and thoroughly change the organizational model of the country's management and administration, as this policy has quickly transformed into decisive and specific action plans at each level, sector, and locality, which have been made public to the people nationwide.

"Revolution" means change. As the country prepares to enter a new era, it needs a reformed administrative apparatus, from its appearance to its leadership style and the work ethic of each individual. The inadequacies and overlaps in the functions and responsibilities of agencies and organizations within the political system—which have existed for decades—must be reviewed and reorganized. This is especially important given that this cumbersome apparatus consumes 70% of the nation's recurrent expenditure.

The leader of our Party believes that the country has sufficient strength and momentum; sufficient will and determination to change. Now is the time to summarize, learn from experience, and implement it effectively.Resolution 18-NQ/TWIn 2017, the 12th Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam decided that the political system's apparatus should not only be "compact," but also "refined." Compact and lightweight to soar high and far; refined to be more effective and sustainable on the journey to achieving the goal of a prosperous, strong, and powerful nation.

Following the principle of the Central Committee setting an example and local authorities responding, the plan to streamline the organizational structure of Party committees, the Fatherland Front, mass organizations, the Government, and the National Assembly has been largely completed. The roadmap and the number of units at the committee, ministry, department, division, and institute levels to be merged or reduced have been publicly announced.

Local authorities, without waiting for higher levels of government or looking to neighboring provinces, have proactively developed plans to streamline their administrative apparatus. Each province has reduced an average of 5-7 departments and agencies, as well as many organizations and units within the Party, Front, and mass organizations. Simultaneously, they have significantly reduced intermediate organizations to streamline leadership personnel, reduce hierarchical levels, and overcome unclear functions, responsibilities, and overlapping management and administration…

For example, Nghe An province will merge the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department and Mass Mobilization Department; terminate the activities of the Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies Bloc and the Party Committee of the Provincial Enterprises Bloc; and end the activities of 11 Party Groups and Party Committees of provincial-level agencies and units, as well as the Provincial Committee for the Protection and Care of Cadre Health. In the government sector, Nghe An will merge 12 departments into 6; simultaneously, it will terminate the activities of the Provincial Investment, Trade and Tourism Promotion Center, transferring its functions to the newly merged departments.

For example, Khanh Hoa province plans to merge and streamline 7 departments and 1 provincial-level project management board (reducing the number of administrative agencies and units under the Provincial People's Committee by more than one-third). Regarding the Party, the Fatherland Front, and political and social organizations, the province will cease operations of 16 agencies, including Party groups, Party committees, and steering committees; and dissolve 2 Party committees: the Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies Bloc and the Party Committee of the Provincial Enterprises Bloc... Simultaneously, the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda Department will be merged with the Provincial Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Department; and research is being conducted on merging Khanh Hoa Radio and Television Station with Khanh Hoa Newspaper…

Provide a few examples to show that when the mindset is clear and the will is firm, everything can proceed smoothly. The revolution to streamline the administrative apparatus is moving forward strongly and will definitely succeed.

However, the ultimate goal of this revolution is a profound qualitative change in operations. Organizational adjustments are only a necessary condition; the sufficient condition for the complete success of the revolution is improving the quality of human resources and the work ethic of cadres and civil servants in their role of serving the nation and the people. These are also the fundamental requirements that General Secretary To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh have repeatedly emphasized when directing the recent review of the implementation of Resolution 18.

To achieve this, the evaluation and selection of officials must be "correct and accurate," ensuring openness, transparency, and impartiality, based on the performance, skills, and contributions of each individual. Officials who are merely "carrying their umbrellas to work in the morning and carrying them back home in the evening" must be removed from the system; priority should be given to those who are capable and dedicated.voluntarily retire earlyMaking way for younger, more capable officials; attracting talented people to work in the state apparatus through reasonable incentive mechanisms, not only with superior salaries and bonuses but, more importantly, creating a working environment and opportunities for them to contribute in accordance with their abilities and strengths. The government's recent issuance of three decrees (177, 178, and 179/ND-CP) in a short period of time is precisely to serve this policy.

The conditions are right, the time is ripe; there can be no hesitation or delay that would cause us to miss the opportunity to rebuild a streamlined, effective, and efficient national administration and governance system.

More than ever, every individual and collective within the leadership apparatus, from the central to local levels; every cadre and Party member, especially the heads of agencies and units, needs to uphold their pioneering and exemplary roles, possessing sufficient courage and responsibility to overcome their own limitations—essentially setting aside personal interests—to collectively strive towards a professional, modern, effective, and efficient governance system; a more open and favorable environment for production, business, and investment, for a prosperous and powerful Vietnam in the new era.