In his closing remarks at the 13th Central Committee Conference on November 25, Party Secretary General To Lam reminded the need to review and report to the Central Committee about the plan to restructure and strengthen the political system's organizational apparatus by the first quarter of 2025, emphasizing that "this is an especially important task, a revolution towards streamlining the organizational apparatus of the political system”.

Renaming and streamlining ministries

To concretize Resolution 18/2017 of the 12th Central Committee Session 6 on "issues regarding the continuous innovation and organizational restructuring to make the political system streamlined for efficient and effective operation", the government assigned the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to summarize the government’s organizational structure in the 2016-2021 tenure and build up plans for the government structure in 2021-2026.

Under the government’s directive, MHA organized extensive, scientific, and cautious research and discussions on this matter.

When building the organizational structure of the 15th Government Term (2021-2026), there were ideas about renaming some ministries and agencies, as well as reorganizing and streamlining the ministries and agencies with similar functions and responsibilities.

However, amid difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, the government had to focus on implementing “dual objectives”.

The Politburo then decided that in the immediate time, it would be better to keep the names, organizational structure, and the number of ministries and ministerial-level agencies of the 14th term unchanged and use them for the 15th term.

The government then submitted the proposal to the 15th National Assembly convened in July 2021 and got the National Assembly’s approval.

Government apparatus remains stable since 2007

The government apparatus has been restructured many times, depending on the conditions of historical periods and key tasks in the periods.

There was a time when the government had 36 ministries (9th term, 1992-1997). In the 10th term, 1997-2002, there were 48 key units. In the 11th term, 2002-2007, there were 38 key units, including 26 ministries and ministerial-level agencies, and 12 agencies under the government.

In the 12th term, 2007-2011, the government’s apparatus was streamlined with the number of key units down to 30, including 22 ministries and ministerial-level agencies and eight agencies under the government.

The rearrangement and merger of ministries in mid-2007 formed a government apparatus with multi-sector and multi-field ministries. The Ministry of Industry was merged with the Ministry of Trade to form up the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT), while the Ministry of Fisheries was merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD).

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Culture and Information was divided into two sectors, wherein the cultural sector merged with the Sports and Physical Training Committee and the Tourism Administration to form the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism (MCST), and the Press Department and the Publishing Department were merged with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to form the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC).

After numerous reorganizations and mergers, the government's structure has remained stable since the 12th term (2007-2011) with 30 key units comprising 18 ministries, four ministerial-level agencies, and eight agencies under the government.

The 18 ministries include the Ministries of National Defense (MND), Public Security (MPS), Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Justice (MOJ), Finance (MOF), Industry and Trade (MOIT), Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA), Transport (MOT), Construction (MOC), Information and Communications (MIC), Education and Training (MOET), Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Planning and Investment (MPI), Home Affairs (MHA), Health (MOH), Science and Technology (MST), Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), and Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE).

The four ministerial-level agencies include the Government Office, the Government Inspectorate, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), and the Committee of Ethnics.

Deadline

In an article titled "Streamlined-Strong-Efficient-Effective", Party Chief To Lam commented that after seven years of the Resolution 18 implementation, some important achievements have been gained, initially creating positive changes in renewing and organizing the apparatus, and improving the operational efficiency of agencies and organizations.

However, he pointed out that the organization of the political system's apparatus still remains cumbersome and multi-layered.

After 40 years of doi moi (Renovation), Vietnam’s political system's organizational apparatus still follows a model designed decades ago, and many issues are no longer suitable for new conditions.

The government has recently requested ministries and agencies to review the seven years of the Resolution 18 implementation. Ministries have been requested to complete the drawing up of plans on restructuring the apparatus within December.

Thu Hang