Reporter (PV): Dear General Secretary - President, Secretary of the Central Military Commission, the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress has established a historical vision. Public opinion and people are very concerned about how to make major policies soon become reality. You have repeatedly emphasized the requirement to eliminate "delays" and strongly shift from "speaking" to "doing" and "doing effectively". Please tell us more about this action thinking in the current context?
Comrade To Lam: The Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress is the crystallization of the intelligence, will and aspiration to rise up of the entire nation; the value of the resolution is only fully affirmed when it is organized and implemented by drastic, synchronous and effective actions. The reality of the Vietnamese revolution shows that all achievements of the country are associated with periods when the right policies are transformed into specific results, in which the implementation stage plays a key role.
We frankly acknowledge that the major bottleneck today is not in the lack of guidelines, but in the ability to turn guidelines into specific development transformations. The effectiveness and efficiency of national governance, discipline, administrative discipline and the quality of policy implementation in some places are still far from the requirements of national development. Therefore, the overarching spirit of this term is to turn will into action, turn policy decisions into results; saying is doing, doing immediately, doing right, doing decisively, doing to the end and doing effectively.
The next 5-10 years will be decisive for the strategic goals of the Party and the country. If we waste even a short period of time due to hesitation, avoidance, working in the old way or waiting and shirking responsibility, the price to pay is at least to lose the development opportunity of the entire nation.
Therefore, the command to act at this time is to strongly shift from "correct awareness" to "effective deployment", from "promulgating policies" to "creating products and practical results". All Party committees, Party organizations, each cadre and party member, especially the head, must set an example by taking the lead, doing things thoroughly, and producing substantial results so that the people can enjoy them right from the early days of their term.
Mr. General Secretary, President, in this term, how is the reform of the method of organization and implementation set out to strongly shift from management by administrative orders to governance based on results, in order to eliminate the "bottleneck" in the implementation stage?
Comrade To Lam: The 14th Congress identified institutions as "breakthroughs of breakthroughs", going ahead to pave the way. Institutions are not only tools for state management, but must become a driving force for development, liberating production, unlocking social resources and creating a favorable environment for innovation. To eliminate the "blockade" situation, first of all, it is necessary to innovate thinking and methods of organization and implementation.
First, it is necessary to drastically review and improve the legal system, mechanisms, processes, and procedures to remove all bottlenecks. The spirit is that problems at which level must be proactively amended, without waiting, without shirking responsibility. It is necessary to strongly shift from management and licensing thinking to creating development and service; from heavy pre-inspection to strengthening post-inspection in eligible areas; from a procedural approach to a result-oriented approach.
Second, it is necessary to change the measure of evaluation. It is impossible to continue to take the thickness of reports or the number of meetings as the main basis for evaluating the level of task completion. Evaluating an organization, an official must look at the specific development product, at the progress of work, at social efficiency, at the level of satisfaction of people and businesses. All action programs must be quantified, measured and have a clear roadmap.
Third, it is necessary to continue to arrange the organizational structure in a direction of effectiveness and efficiency, associated with innovating the Party's leadership methods. The Central Committee's decision to transfer Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam, Vietnam News Agency, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology from government-attached agencies to be non-business units of the Party Central Committee; and at the same time to receive party committees of these 5 agencies from the Government Party Committee to the Party Committees of central Party agencies, is a very important organizational adjustment step. This is not only a focal point arrangement, but also an adjustment of leadership methods to strengthen the direct and regular direction of the Central Committee on particularly important areas of ideology, communication and strategic science.
Fourthly, all major programs, projects, and schemes must clearly define goals, progress, responsible people, resources for implementation and inspection and supervision mechanisms. Only then can the situation of "top hot, bottom cold", "spiritually correct but stuck in the implementation stage" be stopped.
Mr. General Secretary, President, you have clearly pointed out that the implementation of the Resolution must be linked to the innovation of the Party's leadership methods, in which the human factor and political and ideological work play a particularly important role. So what is the core requirement currently set out?
Comrade To Lam: In the new period, innovating leadership methods must aim to build a modern, disciplined, transparent, effective and serving People national governance. To do so, the decisive factor is still people - first of all, the contingent of cadres and party members, especially the heads. The requirements set out today are not only to have common qualities and capabilities, but also to have the courage to implement, have practical action thinking, be able to organize work to the end and dare to take responsibility for the common good.
Along with that, it is necessary to especially value political and ideological work in the Party. The recent 2nd Central Conference issued Regulations on political and ideological work in the Party. This is a very new content, very necessary in the current period, because we are implementing many major policies at the same time, strong reforms, strong innovations; if we do not maintain the political foundation, do not create high unity in the Party and consensus in society, then even the right policies are difficult to achieve the desired results.
Political and ideological work must truly go first, pave the way; it cannot be done in a formalistic way or just stop at the stage of thoroughly grasping and learning from resolutions to have enough procedures. The core thing is to concretize political and ideological requirements into the responsibility of each Party committee, Party organization, each cadre and party member; maintain strict speaking discipline, consolidate trust, build political bravery, improve combativeness and create motivation for cadres to dare to think, dare to do, dare to break through for the common good.
For the contingent of cadres, it is necessary to resolutely overcome the situation of being good at advising but weak in organizing implementation. In organizing implementation, it is necessary to ensure "6 clarity": clarity of people, clarity of tasks, clarity of time, clarity of responsibilities, clarity of authority and clarity of results. Do not allow the situation of taking the collective to cover up personal responsibility; at the same time, there must be a mechanism to protect those who dare to innovate and dare to take responsibility. The ruling Party must thoroughly grasp the viewpoint that "the people are the root", taking the happiness and satisfaction of the People as a measure of the effectiveness of the work of Party organizations and the entire political system.
To ensure that the Resolution of the 14th National Congress and new resolutions of the Central Government are seriously and effectively implemented, how should the work of inspection, supervision and Party discipline be innovated, Mr. General Secretary, President?
Comrade To Lam: Inspection and supervision is not the last resort, and even more so, it is not just handling violations when incidents have occurred. This is a very important leadership method of the Party, a tool to control power, maintain discipline and order, and ensure that all guidelines and resolutions are implemented seriously and in the right direction.
First of all, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp and organize the implementation of the new Resolution of the Central Committee on renovating and improving the effectiveness of inspection, supervision and Party discipline. The Central Committee's issuance of a new resolution in this field shows that the requirements of the current development stage are very high: rapid development must go hand in hand with tightening discipline and order; a more open mechanism means tighter power control; stronger decentralization and delegation of power means clearer political responsibility.
Second, it is necessary to strongly shift the inspection and supervision work to early and remote prevention; detect risks right in the operation process, not allowing limitations and shortcomings to accumulate into major violations. Each Party committee, Party organization, each Party cell, and each party member must identify this as their political responsibility; it is not possible to entrust everything to the inspection agency. Inspection must be linked to each action program, each key task, each project, and each commitment of the head.
Third, the Politburo and the Secretariat have established inspection and supervision teams headed directly by Politburo and Secretariat members to inspect the implementation of the Resolution of the XIV Congress, resolutions and directives of the Central Government at all Party organizations directly under the Central Government, including Party committees at the Central level, provincial and city Party committees. The spirit is to both inspect and supervise, and urge and remove difficulties, and discover new ways of doing things to replicate, not to do things in a formalistic and coping manner.
I myself have also directly worked and attended conferences to deploy with the Central Military Commission, with the Central Public Security Party Committee; and at the same time directly worked as Head of the inspection and supervision delegation for the Standing Committee of the National Assembly Party Committee and the Standing Committee of the Hanoi City Party Committee. This clearly reflects the requirement to set an example in leadership and direction: having identified inspection and supervision as a method of Party leadership, senior leaders must directly do, directly listen, directly inspect, directly direct and directly be responsible for the results.
The ultimate goal is to make the entire system operate more disciplined, transparent, drastic and effective. Discipline must be for better action; supervision must be for clearer results; inspection must contribute to removing difficulties, tightening responsibility, ensuring that the Resolution of the 14th National Congress and resolutions of the Central Committee are seriously, unifiedly, and effectively implemented throughout the Party.
2026 is the first year of implementing the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress and the Resolution of the 12th Party Congress of the Army. What advice does the General Secretary, President, and Secretary of the Central Military Commission have for officers and soldiers in the Vietnam People's Army?
Comrade To Lam: The Vietnam People's Army is always a pioneering and exemplary force, matching words with deeds. In the new development stage of the country, the Army must further promote that tradition, must be truly exemplary in political bravery, action spirit, discipline, work efficiency and quality of organization and implementation of resolutions.
First of all, the entire army must thoroughly grasp the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress, the Resolution of the 12th Army Party Congress and the action programs of the Central Military Commission; but thorough grasp must not stop at awareness but must be transformed into specific actions at each level, each sector, each unit, each working position. Each Party committee, Party organization, commander, political commissar, political commissar must clearly identify what needs to be done immediately, what is the breakthrough, who is responsible and how to inspect.
The entire army must especially value political and ideological work, build a truly clean and strong Army Party Committee; maintain and strengthen the absolute and direct leadership of the Party over the Army in all aspects; maintain the qualities of Uncle Ho's soldiers; build a politically strong Army as a basis for improving overall quality, combat strength, combat readiness, discipline management, building regularity, promoting digital transformation and moving towards modernization.
I especially pay attention to the exemplary role of the contingent of cadres. The higher the position of cadres, the more exemplary they must be in terms of working style, organizational discipline awareness, spirit of daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, saying and doing. Each cadre must dare to think, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to innovate and create for the common good; must be comprehensively trained and fostered to meet the requirements of building the Army in the new situation. At the same time, strengthen inspection and supervision, strictly maintain discipline and order; ensure that all guidelines and resolutions are implemented seriously and effectively.
The results of implementing the resolution in the Army must be measured by substantive changes in training, combat readiness, unit building, discipline compliance and the people's belief in the Army. High determination must turn into clear results; actions must be firm, accurate and effective to the end. The Army must continue to be the leading force in action, exemplary in discipline, saying and doing, doing as far as possible, "determination ten times stronger, action a hundred times stronger", contributing to the entire Party and people to successfully implement the Resolution of the 14th Party Congress, building and firmly protecting the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland in the new era of development.
Thank you very much, General Secretary, President, Secretary of the Central Military Commission!
