The 12th Party Central Committee’s second plenum from March 10-12 accomplished the items on its agenda and made decisions on important issues, the Committee said in its announcement on the plenum.

The 12th Party Central Committee’s term-long working agenda will focus on reinforcing the Party in terms of political ideology, ethics and lifestyle; building a contingent of strategic officials of high calibre; continuing to renew the Party’s leadership; and stepping up the prevention of corruption, wastefulness and bureaucracy.

It will also continue paying heed to reforming the growth model, raising labour productivity and the national economy’s competitiveness, and improving State businesses’ operations, along with persistently struggling to defend the nation’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity and continuing international integration.

It agreed that the country’s 2016-2020 socio-economic plan must ensure macro-economic stability to achieve higher growth than the past five years; accelerate the implementation of set breakthroughs and restructure the national economy; develop culture and ensure people enjoy social equality and improved living conditions; proactively deal with climate change and protect the environment; intensify defences to firmly safeguard the national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, along with maintaining political stability and social order; improve the efficiency of external relations and international integration; protect peace and stability to create a favourable environment for nation-building and defence; heighten the country’s position in the world; and quickly turn Vietnam into a modernity-oriented industrial country.

The Party Central Committee said the mid-term budget plan aims to continue refining the financial institution; ensuring the fair and efficient allocation, management and use of financial resources in line with socio-economic development; gradually restructuring the State budget with priority given to people, social welfare, national defence and security; and boosting administrative reform and monitoring of financial activities to address public debt.

The mid-term public investment plan during the 2016-2020 period needs to focus on building a complete socio-economic infrastructure, the Party Central Committee said. Public investments needed for the work would account for 24-25 percent of total investments, which are estimated to make up 32-34 percent of GDP, it added.

Public investment allocation in the period must follow the law on public investment and regulations on the allocation of State budget-sourced investments for development, the Party Central Committee said.

It affirmed that the building and implementation of the mid-term public investment plan and the mid-term finance plan as part of the 2016-2020 socio-economic development scheme will help the Government adapt its plans to the market economy and seek practicality for development investment plans and public investment efficiency.

The Party Central Committee agreed on personnel arrangements for State agencies for submission to the 13th National Assembly’s 11th meeting for election or ratification.

It called on the Party, army and people to maximise their efforts to accomplish tasks set for 2016 and turn the 12th national Party Congress resolution into action.

Party Central Committee closes second meeting

The Party Central Committee closed its second plenum in Hanoi on March 12 following three working days.

After giving opinions on the government’s reports and the meeting’s agenda, the Committee unanimously adopted a resolution.

In his closing remarks, Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong said that the Committee generally agreed with the draft working agenda for the 12th tenure, saying that it covers important issues with a view to successfully realising the Resolution adopted by the 12th National Party Congress.

Specifically, the agenda sets the goal of continuing to accelerate the implementation of a resolution on Party building set by the 11th Party Central Committee’s fourth plenum, building a really strong political system, streamlining personnel in public administration, renewing the Party leadership, fighting corruption and wastefulness, and restructuring the economy, including State-owned enterprises, commercial banks and credit institutions towards improving economic growth and labour productivity.

On the 2016-2020 socio-economic development plan, the Party leader said the Committee gave the nod to proposals mentioned in the government’s report and offered more suggestions to the scheme to submit to the 13th National Assembly’s 11th session for adoption.

It pressed forward refining the mid-term State finance-budget plan and the mid-term public investment plan to submit to the 14th NA for consideration.

According to Party General Secretary Trong, participants underscored the need to prioritise investment in agriculture, farmers and rural areas; overhaul the public administration sector and administrative procedures; and improve business environment.

Other concerns include dealing with high budget overspending, bad and public debts amid the volatilities in the global financial-monetary markets, mitigating the adverse impacts of climate change that has led to severe saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta and drought in the south central region and the Central Highlands, and environment pollution and traffic congestion in cities and major urban areas.

Building and realising the five-year public investment scheme will present a panorama of public projects and State budget balance between 2016-2020, they said.

The Committee requested that annual, mid-term and five-year socio-economic development plans must be in line with the guidelines and viewpoints of the 12th National Party Congress, as well as the conditions of each locality and sector.

It also urged developing action programmes for implementing the policies and the guidelines of the Party and the State, as well as making revisions if necessary.

Participants also discussed and reached consensus on personnel arrangements for State agencies, in a bid to ensure the timely implementation of the Resolution adopted at the 12th National Party Congress.

The Committee cast votes for nominees to such key positions as President, Prime Minister, and Chairman of the National Assembly.

Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong said that the Politburo had earlier sought consensus from the Party Central Committee on these key positions before submitting its personnel options for other posts to be elected or approved by the National Assembly, in accordance with the current Constitution and law.

Based on the Committee’s nominations and voting results, the Politburo will instruct authorized agencies to continue refining the nomination list for leading posts of State agencies before submitting it to the NA, he said.

“After the meeting, we will continue consolidating leading positions in agencies of the Party Central Committee and Party delegations to areas where personnel changes will be made,” he said, stressing the urgent need to directing the building of action plans to realise the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress in combination with implementing socio-economic, national defence-security and foreign relations tasks.

Thorough preparations will be made to successfully conduct the election of deputies to the 14th NA and People’s Councils at all levels for the 2016-2021 tenure, he reaffirmed.

VNA