Competent agencies must be aware of the qualifications of state personnel before the 13th National Congress, which is slated for 2021, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and President Nguyen Phu Trong has said. 

Nothing else but manpower plays a crucial role in pushing the country forward, the president said at a meeting on March 21, noting the selection of key officials at all levels will come next year. 

So far, the president has reiterated the necessity of selecting qualified cadres, saying that it would be a key factor for the socio-economic growth.  

Accordingly, he asked civil servants of all levels to be cautious about their deeds to ensure proper behaviors and efficiency, and encouraged them to closely follow late President Ho Chi Minh’s ethnics.   

Not surprisingly, Trong stressed the fights against corruption which has been proved to be taken in every field and among all subjects without exceptions. 

Indeed, the CPV’s ongoing anti-corruption campaign, which has seen the prosecution of various high-ranking officials, including a Politburo member and armed forces generals, has further highlighted the importance of personnel works to the Party’s resilience and reputation.

Obviously, Vietnam needs to ensure the country’s future leadership by identifying “strategic cadres” – the next generation of clean party leaders – to be elected to the new Central Committee in 2021, according to Prof. Carlyle Thayer at the University of New South Wales, Australian Defense Force Academy.

Early preparations 

Since the seventh plenum of the 12th Central Committee of the CPV, which took place on May 7-12, 2018, the leadership debated a blueprint for the Party’s strategic personnel planning and management. 

The blueprint highlights bold measures to revamp its personnel planning and management and demonstrated the Party’s strong political will in strengthening the quality and integrity of its cadres, according to Le Hong Hiep, researcher at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore. 

The move appears in the broader context of the CPV’s current efforts to fight corruption and clean up its system, as well as of the Party’s initial preparations for its 13th National Congress. 

Guided by late President Ho Chi Minh’s teaching that “cadres are the foundation of all works”, the CPV has consistently put a strong emphasis on its personnel management. In the context of economic reforms under the Doi Moi (renovation) policy, the Party has considered personnel works as an essential element in its formula for industrializing and modernizing the country. 

The Party has therefore formulated and implemented various plans and policies to improve the quality of its cadres, especially at the “strategic levels”.

But the Party itself has acknowledged that weaknesses remain in the Party’s personnel works such as the prevalence of corrupt personnel practices, such as political patronage, nepotism, or bribing for power and positions, according to Hiep.

Hanoitimes