VietNamNet Bridge – The government has vowed to build a clean and effective public service, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tran Tuan Anh told the Viet Nam Economics Times.

Recently the Prime Minister issued an instruction to improve the management of civil servants and public employees. How do you think this will improve the government's apparatus?

The PM's instruction is a manifestation of the government's resolve to push reform of the public service to make it more professional and efficient. The government hopes the document will help the public service meet the public's expectations and strengthen their confidence in government offices.

Key points in the document relate to the discipline and attitude of public servants in carrying out their duties, and the fight against adverse practices in personnel management.

All these were comprehensively expressed in the Law on Cadres and Civil Servants and the Law on Public Employees, in addition to other legal documents.

I should say that positive results have been reported nationwide since these legal documents came into force. Regular inspections and supervision have also been carried out to ensure the laws are properly implemented.

We have applied information technology - on pilot cases in the recruitment of cadres and civil servant to ensure the tests are conducted in the most objective way and are strict, fair and transparent.

However, there remains some challenges, including poor quality service and a lax attitude amongst some public servants when performing their duties.

I'm confident that with the issuance of this instruction, the performance of government apparatus, at all levels, will improve to be more responsive.

There has been positive feedback in regards to recruitment tests for senior positions in some government offices. Do you have any suggestions to build on this?

In my opinion, the most important principle in such a test is to emphasise the leadership role of the party in personnel work. That means the curriculum vitae of candidates must be evidence of a transparent and clean process.

However, the candidates must not necessarily come from these ministries. They could come from other government agencies or socio-political organisations. But, the most important factor is that they must be selected to be future senior officials (in a similar ranking position) in their own offices/organisations.

This is one of the contents included in the proposal to reform the recruitment of senior positions at department or general department which has been developed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The proposal is now awaiting official approval.

What's your position on the decision by some localities to turn away candidates that have university diplomas from service training courses?

Principally speaking, all diplomas awarded by legally recognised universities are equal before the law - be it from the service training course or full time course. However, candidates have to pass examinations for the positions they want. That's the key principle.

The tests ensure that we'll be able to select the best candidates to fill vacant positions.

Our ministry's position is to select people who are capable of doing the job well, not to select people simply for having distinction diplomas.

VNS/VNN