It’s high time to streamline the State apparatus: Party General Secretary To Lam
The State apparatus has become too cumbersome and overlapping in many places, hindering national development, and without streamlining it, the country will not be able to develop to reach its full potential, Party General Secretary To Lam has affirmed.
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| General Secretary To Lam reminded that the Politburo is determined to complete the streamlining of the apparatus before the 14th Party Congress in early 2026. (Photo: Tuan Anh) |
In a speech delivered at the National Assembly at the end of October, the Party leader shared an example related to the management and exploitation of riverbed sand, a matter involving three ministries - the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. He pointed out that despite numerous meetings to debate the issue, when asked who was primarily responsible for this matter, no one could specify which agency should take the lead.
His story serves to highlight the inefficiency and confusion in the current administrative structure, where overlapping responsibilities between different agencies can lead to a lack of clear accountability. He used this example to underscore the need for streamlining the State apparatus, ensuring clarity in responsibilities whilst improving the coordination between different agencies to avoid similar administrative bottlenecks.
According to the Party leader, after seven years of implementing Resolution 18 of the 12th Party Central Committee in 2017 regarding the renewal and restructuring of the political system, the results have not yet met expectations due to a lack of determination coupled with insufficient decisive actions. Some ministries and sectors still take on tasks meant for local governments, leading to the persistence of a “request-grant” mechanism, which can give rise to issues such as corruption, waste, and negativity. This has resulted in a cumbersome and overlapping system which causes inefficiency whilst hindering development.
Vietnam has set ambitious goals of becoming a developing, upper medium income economy by 2030 as it prepares to mark 100 years of the Communist Party of Vietnam, as well as becoming a developed, high income economy by 2045 to mark 100 years of the socialist state.
According to the General Secretary, these two big anniversaries are not far off, and achieving strategic goals requires not only extraordinary efforts and significant strides, but also demands immediate actions to be taken. For this to happen, he emphasised the urgent need to carry out a revolution in relation to streamlining the organisational structure of the political system.
At the 13th Party Central Committee plenum on November 25, the elite members of the Party strongly agreed to implement the policy of restructuring and streamlining the apparatus, identifying this as a crucial task moving forward. This organisational revolution requires a high sense of unity in awareness and action throughout the Party and the entire political system.
During the meeting, General Secretary To Lam reminded that the Politburo is determined to complete the streamlining of the apparatus before the 14th Party Congress in early 2026. He also stressed that all levels of Party committees, ministries, agencies, and especially leaders and heads of units, must set an example when working to carry out their assigned tasks.
To successfully stage such a revolution, many experts and NA deputies outlined their belief that the core factor is both determination and decisiveness. Bui Hoai Son, member of the NA Committee for Culture and Education, stated that this determination and decisiveness must come from the highest levels of leadership. When leaders are willing to face challenges and are not afraid of change, it will subsequently serve as the greatest motivation to drive reform, he said.
Meanwhile, National Assembly deputy Dr. Tran Anh Tuan pointed out that, for the revolution to be effective, it must be carried through to the end and must truly be a thorough revolution. In addition, organisational restructuring should be implemented in a way to ensure that it serves a long-term phase in the country’s overall development and continued prosperity.
He also emphasised that the streamlining should not be a mechanical process of merging institutions, but be based on real-world requirements, specifically the need to develop a socialist-oriented market economy, improve the rule of law in the socialist state, transition to national governance, and enhance the role of local governments in self-management.
To turn these ambitions into reality, experts said that Vietnam needs to take specific and decisive steps, including strengthening political will, developing a clear and specific restructuring strategy, clarifying management and decentralisation, as well as building consensus and evaluating effectiveness, among others.
(Source: VOV)
