Building a strong intellectual team - raising the national intelligence

On the morning of June 3, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong attended and delivered a speech at the 7th National Congress of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations.

Nghe An Newspaper respectfully introduces the full text of the speech:

"Dear delegates, distinguished guests,

Dear comrades,

Today, I am very pleased to attend the 7th National Congress of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations - a large political and social organization of Vietnamese science and technology intellectuals. On behalf of the Politburo and the Central Party Secretariat, I warmly welcome the delegates to the Congress and through you, I would like to send my sincere greetings and best wishes to all members of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations as well as intellectuals nationwide.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the Congress.

Dear Congress,

We all know that, through thousands of years of history of building and defending the country, our ancestors have drawn the philosophy: Talents are the vital energy of the nation, when vital energy is prosperous, the country is strong, when vital energy is weak, the country is weak. In today's era, our Party has also repeatedly affirmed: Knowledge is always the foundation of social progress, the intellectual team is the core force creating and disseminating knowledge. Vietnamese intellectuals are a particularly important creative labor force in the process of building and developing the country, especially in the period of promoting industrialization, modernization and international integration, building a knowledge-based economy, developing an advanced Vietnamese culture with a strong national identity. Building a strong intellectual team is directly raising the intelligence of the nation, the strength of the country, improving the leadership capacity of the Party and the quality of the political system's operations. Investing in building an intellectual team is investing in sustainable development.

Over the past decades, the Vietnamese intellectual community has continuously grown and matured, with a spirit of patriotism, national pride and self-respect, always attached to and accompanying the country's revolutionary cause led by our Party for the goal of a rich people, a strong country, democracy, equality and civilization. Through creative activities, our country's intellectual community has made great contributions to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland, which has been recognized and highly appreciated by the Party, the State and the whole society.

Training, building and promoting the strength of the intellectual team to meet the country's requirements in the new period is the responsibility of the Party, the State, the entire political system, and the whole society, including the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations.

After more than 30 years of construction and development, with 6 Congresses, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations has affirmed its important position and role: Being a member of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, a place to gather and unite Vietnamese scientific and technological intellectuals both domestically and abroad, creating conditions for intellectuals to contribute the most enthusiasm and intelligence to the cause of building and defending the Fatherland.

During the 5-year term (2010 - 2015), the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations has had many rich and creative activities, achieving many outstanding results. The Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations has become an organization playing a core role in gathering, uniting and mobilizing scientific and technological intellectuals to actively participate in solving socio-economic development tasks, building and defending the Fatherland.

The Union has done a good job in political and ideological education, fostering patriotism, civic responsibility and social activism for its members, creating a good environment to unite the scientific and technological intellectuals. Actively advising and proposing to the Party and the State major issues on guidelines, policies and strategies; proactively promoting social consulting, criticism and appraisal activities, contributing to consolidating scientific arguments for major programs, projects and schemes before competent authorities make decisions. There have been many contributions in propagating and disseminating scientific and technological knowledge to all classes of people, contributing to the socialization of education and training, improving people's knowledge, training human resources and nurturing talents.

Promote practical applied research, develop science and technology, take care of health, improve people's lives, protect the environment, eliminate hunger and reduce poverty; be an important force to promote the people's movement of creativity, effectively apply scientific and technological advances in production and life as well as in organizing awards, competitions, and scientific and technological innovation competitions; have focused on honoring outstanding collectives and individuals with many contributions to science and technology.

In the process of implementing its political tasks, the organization and operation of the Union of Science and Technology Associations at the Central level as well as in the provinces and centrally-run cities have been consolidated, strengthened and continuously developed. Up to now, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations has had 140 member associations. The total number of members of the member associations has reached over 2.8 million people (an increase of 1 million people compared to the previous term). The team of scientific and technological intellectuals nationwide, especially the team of scientific and technological intellectuals under the Union of Science and Technology Associations system, has rapidly increased in quantity and improved in quality, making many contributions to the cause of science and technology development.

Many people have been enthusiastic and dedicated to research and innovation, contributing to the development of basic research, creating the foundation for the formation of a number of new multidisciplinary science and technology fields; at the same time, promoting research and application of science, technology and engineering, improving productivity and quality of products, goods and services; contributing to improving the competitiveness of enterprises and the economy; a number of fields have reached the advanced level of the region and the world.

With these achievements, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations has been awarded many noble titles by the Party and the State. On this occasion, once again, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, I warmly congratulate, commend and thank the great contributions and dedication to the country of the country's scientific and technological intellectuals and the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations.

However, we also need to frankly admit that the activities of the Association are not yet commensurate with the potential of the organization and the team of scientific and technological intellectuals, with the requirements and demands of the cause of national construction and development. The organizational system and apparatus still have many shortcomings; the content and methods of the association's activities have not been much innovated; the environment for gathering intellectuals is still not attractive, not meeting the new requirements. The Association has not been proactive in participating in solving the country's major problems; political and ideological education and professional ethics for intellectuals have not been given due importance; the organization and application of scientific and technological advances in production and life is still limited. The Association has not really been the core force to make science and technology the main driving force for sustainable development of the country.

Dear Congress,

Currently, our entire Party, people and army are striving to promote the strength of the entire nation, comprehensively promote the renovation process, build a foundation to soon basically turn our country into an industrialized country in the modern direction, build and firmly protect the socialist Fatherland of Vietnam. It is forecasted that in the coming years, the world and domestic situation will continue to have rapid, complex and unpredictable developments. The scientific and technological revolution, especially information technology, continues to develop strongly, promoting leaps and bounds in many fields, creating both opportunities and challenges for all countries. That situation requires scientific and technological organizations, scientific and technological intellectuals nationwide, especially the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations and the team of scientists under the Union of Associations to strive and make greater contributions to the cause of rapid and sustainable development of the country.

I basically agree with the directions, goals and tasks of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, term VII (2015 - 2020) as stated by the Union's leaders in the Report presented to the Congress; at the same time, I emphasize and note the following issues:

Firstly, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations needs to be more proactive and active in thoroughly grasping and successfully implementing the Resolution of the 6th Conference of the 11th Party Central Committee on science and technology development. Strive to soon achieve the goal of strongly developing science and technology, making science and technology truly the most important driving force for developing modern production forces, knowledge-based economy, improving productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness of the economy, protecting the environment, ensuring national defense and security. At the same time, it is necessary to work closely with the Education and Training sector to effectively implement the Resolution of the 8th Conference of the 11th Party Central Committee on fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training, striving to create strong changes in the quality and effectiveness of education and training so that by 2030, our country's education will reach an advanced level in the region.

Second, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations must truly be the core force, leading the cause of building the Vietnamese intellectual team, first of all the scientific and technological intellectual team in the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization of the country. Continue to promote the implementation of the Resolution of the 7th Conference of the 10th Party Central Committee on building the intellectual team, implementing the Strategy for developing the intellectual team until 2020, striving to gradually build a strong intellectual team, achieving high quality, with reasonable quantity and structure, meeting the requirements of sustainable development of the country.

Strengthen political and ideological education, help scientific and technological intellectuals deeply perceive their responsibilities and fulfill their duties to the country and people; promote good qualities such as patriotism, social activism, humanity, ethics, and traditional lifestyle of the nation. Pay attention to fostering the expertise and professional ethics of intellectuals, especially young intellectuals; respect and honor those who have made practical and effective contributions. Deepen the close relationships between the Party, the State, the people and intellectuals; between intellectuals and the Party, the State and the people; strengthen the great national unity bloc on the basis of the worker-farmer-intellectuals alliance. Urgently build and perfect mechanisms and policies to effectively promote the potential of the intellectual team.

Third, continue to effectively implement the Directive of the 10th Politburo on innovation, improving the quality and efficiency of the activities of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations, striving to complete the goal: by 2020, build the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations to truly become a strong political and social organization at the Central level and in the provinces and centrally-run cities; play a core role in gathering, uniting and promoting the creative capacity of intellectuals, representing the voice of scientists and technologists nationwide; contribute to making science and technology one of the leading important driving forces for socio-economic development, building and defending the Fatherland.

Gathering staff and concentrating resources to propose and advise the Party and State on important issues regarding guidelines, policies and strategies for national development; continuing to proactively carry out consulting, criticism and social appraisal activities in the process of formulating Party and State policies and strategies, major socio-economic programs, projects and proposals before competent authorities make decisions. The Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations must truly become a trusted advisory body of the Party and State, especially in intellectual mobilization work.

Create an environment and conditions for intellectuals to take the lead in disseminating the quintessence of human knowledge in the community, contributing practically to improving people's knowledge; effectively apply scientific and technological advances to production and life; actively and proactively participate in training, scientific research, and transfer of new technologies; be a vanguard force in building a nationwide scientific and technological innovation emulation movement.

Urgently consolidate, improve and develop the organizational system at the Central Agency of the Union of Associations, member associations at the Central level and provincial and municipal associations directly under the Central Government. Continue to innovate the content and methods of operation to suit the new context to improve the operational efficiency of the Union of Associations, forming a democratic, open and favorable environment to gather and unite a large number of scientific and technological intellectuals working in all fields. Create favorable conditions for them to make many contributions and dedications to the country; at the same time, care for and protect their legitimate rights and interests. In addition to gradually perfecting the organizational model, it is necessary to focus on selecting association officials, especially the leadership team, with good political qualities, dedicated to association work, and knowledgeable about intellectual mobilization work.

Fourth, building and developing the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations is not only the responsibility and duty of the scientific and technological intellectuals but also the responsibility of Party committees, authorities and organizations in the political system. Therefore, Party committees and authorities at all levels need to further raise awareness of the role and position of the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations in the new situation; innovate and strengthen the leadership and direction of Party committees and authorities at all levels; supplement and improve laws, mechanisms and policies, create favorable conditions, including ensuring funding and necessary material conditions, for the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations to successfully fulfill its assigned functions and tasks.

Dear delegates and comrades,

Our Party and State, our people always believe and hope that, with a glorious tradition of more than 30 years of construction and development, with a large team of nearly 3 million people, including many talented and dedicated scientists and technologists, the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations and the scientific and technological intellectuals of the whole country, will continue to make even greater contributions to the cause of innovation, construction and development of the country. Especially in this term, we will be more proactive and active, together with the entire Party, the entire people and the entire army, to successfully implement the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws, making our country develop faster and more sustainably in the coming time.

Once again, I wish all delegates and comrades good health, happiness and many worthy contributions to the Fatherland. I wish the Congress great success.

Thank you very much!