VietNamNet Bridge – Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong reflects on the past year and shares his expectations for the next in an exclusive interview with the Vietnam News Agency.

The year 2012 has passed with many difficulties and challenges. How would you assess the achievements made by our Party and people in the past year?

The year 2012 is the second year of implementation of the Resolution of the XIth National Party Congress. Our Party has implemented many policies and decisions that have settled critical issues facing the country. Thanks to the enormous effort of the entire Party, army and people, our country is slowly but surely overcoming many difficulties and challenges in all areas. We have been able to maintain political stability, security, law and order as well as national sovereignty.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong wishes the people a happy new year.

The macro-economy continues to be steady with inflation under control and maintained at a single digit (6.81 per cent compared to the 18.13 per cent recorded in 2011). GDP growth is over 5 per cent. For the first time, Viet Nam has recorded an export turnover of nearly US$115 billion. The country is now the top rice exporter in the world with a volume of 8 million tonnes. Foreign exchange reserve is also at its highest level and international confidence in the Vietnamese dong is strong. We have a stable social safety net and per capita income has reached $1,500 per annum. Despite economic difficulties facing the region, Viet Nam has attracted over $13 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) and another $6.5 billion of official development assistance (ODA). This clearly shows the confidence and support of investors and partners in Viet Nam’s course of development. Tourism is another bright spot in our economy, with 6.8 million foreign visitors and 32.5 million domestic tourists, contributing VND160 trillion last year.

In 2012, progress was also made in campaigns to build new rural areas, promote the moral example of President Ho Chi Minh and reform aspects of the Party. For the latter, the Resolution of the 4th Meeting of the Party Central Committee (XIth tenure) on Party building was instrumental, and has already led to serious, constructive and positive change. Democracy in the Party and society has therefore been displayed.

Our approach to foreign affairs has been proactive and effective at both bilateral and multilateral levels. Party external relations, State diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges have been performed throughout 2012 to enhance the friendship and the mutually beneficial co-operation that Viet Nam shares with many other countries, thus consolidating and improving Viet Nam’s profile and prestige in the international arena. This in turn has created an environment of peace and stability that is conducive to the construction and defence of the Fatherland.

However, it can not be denied that the year 2012 had its fair share of difficulties. The world and the region have seen a great many complicated and unpredictable developments. The global financial crisis and economic slowdown have negatively affected our country’s path to development. At home, the economy has shown certain weaknesses and limitations. Interest rates are high, bad debt and inventories are big and the property market is frozen. Businesses face difficulties and many have dissolved or stopped their operations. All of these things negatively affect the course of poverty reduction and job creation. The standard of life of a section of the population, especially the poor and low-income workers has dropped as a result while the rich-poor divide has widened. Crime and social vices, pollution, food hygiene violations and traffic accidents continue to rise at an alarming level. The East Sea problem is complicated. Hostile forces keep finding ways to undermine the Party and State and to create socio-political instability which threatens our security. All this means there is still a lot of work to be done this year and in the long-term.

The phrases ‘restructuring’ and ‘growth model reform’ have featured lately in many documents and resolutions of the Party Central Committee as well as in your speeches. Are they the new ideas of the Party in its development policy in a time of accelerating modernisation and industrialisation? Could you please elaborate more on these?

A new idea that runs through the resolution of the XI National Party Congress is to make the country’s growth rapid and sustainable through restructuring the economy together with growth model reform, shifting from horizontal growth to vertical growth and so increasing the economy’s productivity, quality, efficiency and competitiveness. Economic growth must go hand in hand with cultural development, social progress and justice and unceasing improvement of the lives of the people. Socio-economic development must also respect environmental protection and improvement and facilitate an active response to climate change and natural disasters.

After six plenaries of the Party Central Committee, our Party has made a series of resolutions, advocating many grand policies on various political, economic and social issues facing the country. Emphasis was put on quality growth and sustainable development. This is ever-present, through changes in infrastructure; implementation of social policies; comprehensive reform of education and training; restructuring of state-owned enterprises; development of science and technology; enhanced land management; guarantees of food and energy security and the protection of our environment. The increased efforts in Party building and correction, the strengthening of the political system, the combat against corruption and wastefulness and the renewal of the Party’s leadership modality all aim to make the Party clean and strong so that it can serve the sustainable development of the country.

Economic restructuring together with growth model renewal is a major and complicated task that should be comprehensively reformed from grassroots level upwards. In the short-term it is necessary to prioritise the restructuring of three special areas: public investment, commercial banks and state-owned economic groups and corporations.

Through my meetings and feedback received from the public, it is clear that there is support for the majority of Party members and citizens appreciate the Party’s ‘correct’ and ‘winning’ resolutions. The point now is how to implement them and make sure that what works well on paper does so in reality too. At the places where I visit, I often repeat that in order to give life to a resolution, each ministry, branch, locality and grassroots organisation must take the words and spirit of the resolution and apply them in the most suitable way. Local authorities must interpret the regulations effectively.

It is a must to increase monitoring to make sure that the Party’s resolutions are being implemented fairly and effectively. The more one goes to witness the implementation at a grassroots level, the clearer one’s view is of the importance of cadres, especially the dynamism and creativity of local leaders. Take, for instance, the Phu Hiep Commune of Tam Nong District, a very remote and disadvantaged area of Dong Thap Muoi (Plain of Reeds). It has recently become quite successful with a new model of agricultural collective, its understanding of local conditions has promoted its campaign to build a new rural area to benefit the local population. Tram Tau Commune is another example. It is one of the 10 mountainous stations in a struggling district to the west of the northern mountain Yen Bai Province. More than 80 per cent of its land area is forest and 97 per cent of its population are H’Mong ethnics. Yet forest fire is rare and most of the local population have settled down permanently. The Party committee and commune administration have been successful in persuading landowners to share with others, meaning 100 per cent of households have a sufficient cultivation area. These are clear examples of where resolutions are successfully implemented in a specific and targeted way by local authorities.

You are one of the advocators behind last year’s Resolution of the 4th Plenary of the Party Central Committee regarding party building. Could you say a few words on the progress of the Resolution and how it can be carried out further in an effective and resolute manner?

In history, this is not the first time our Party made a resolution on Party building. Since its birth, the Resolution of the 4th Plenary of the Party Central Committee on Party building has drawn the attention and support of the absolute majority of cadres, Party members and the population at large. They all hold that our Party has been able to correctly diagnose its problems and advocate the right treatment. The title of the resolution itself, ‘A number of urgent matters on Party building today’ has already spelt out the urgency of this resolution.

As we develop our market economy and open the doors for international integration, new issues arise requiring our study, both theoretically and practically. Yet, the task of Party building and the many worrying weaknesses and limitations of our cadres and Party members, especially the degradation in terms of ideology, ethics and lifestyle, call for our urgent action. In the spirit of accepting facts, no matter how troubling they are, the Resolution has addressed the measures required to make our Party really strong and clean in terms of planning, organisation and personnel.

After nearly a year of implementation, criticism and self-criticism have been performed from the top leaders of the Party to every Party member as part of an important and wide-reaching political campaign. However, the public is still in two minds about whether such criticism and self-criticism boils down to ‘lumping everyone together and tarring them with the same brush,’ or whether the problem really is widespread and more needs to be done to discipline the guilty. What is absolutely clear is that people have high hopes and expectations, and rightly so. Their demands are big but so is the Party’s responsibility. It should be clearly understood that the Resolution has set an immediate goal of heightening vigilance and making it clear that if anyone does not admit their mistake and correct it, they will be disciplined. Our measures to solve the problems are extensive and cover institutions, personnel, organisations, oversight mechanisms and education.

The Politburo and Party Central Committee have issued a series of regulations on the training and management of Party members. We have decided to re-establish the Central Commission on Internal Affairs and the Central Commission on Economic Affairs. The implementation of the Resolution has been well checked, supervised and promoted. A number of mistakes and faults have been corrected. Some cadres at various levels have been disciplined. The spirit of Resolution 4 has been publicised nationally and is benefiting the political systems and machinery of State through concrete policies and action plans. Most recently, the 4th session of the National Assembly has adopted important legislation and resolutions, notably the amended Law on Corruption Prevention and Combat and the Resolution on Votes of Confidence over People Elected by the National Assembly or the People’s Councils. Ha Noi has been leading the country to pilot this practice of holding confidence votes deciding the future of Party members and officials. The Government has issued an Action Plan to enhance the prevention and combat of corruption and wastefulness, spelling out the key tasks of making the operations of agencies, organisations and units transparent and public. It is also introducing reform to improve public service quality and allowing the public a greater role in combating corruption. Inspection and auditing agencies are quite active in this cause. Many localities have come up with programmes and plans to immediately correct their weaknesses and faults.

Building and correcting the faults in the Party is a difficult and complex task. Yet however difficult it is, we cannot avoid it as it is crucial to the life of our Party and the survival of our administration. What will prove increasingly decisive is that all of us, from top to bottom, must work determinedly together to correct the problems with a calm and sound approach. A good individual adds to a good organisation and a good organisation makes up a strong Party. A strong Party contributes to the everlasting life of the nation.

As we welcome the Year of the Snake 2013, do you have any message to share with your compatriots, soldiers in the country and overseas Vietnamese?

In 2013, alongside the advantages and achievements we are working towards, it is forecast that the situation in the world and in our country will continue to be difficult. I hope that the entire Party, army and people will remain firm in their faith so that together we can forge a strong consensus to resolutely bring our country into the light and make strong steps forward. Let each family and each individual have a new year filled with joy, happiness and success.

Source: VNS