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- Delegates to the ongoing 11th National Party Congress in Hanoi held a plenary session on the afternoon
of January 13, during which they heard a number of presentations.

The session was chaired by Politburo member, National
Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong.

Ta Ngoc Tan, a Party Central Committee member, who is
Editor-in-Chief of Tap Chi Cong San (Communist Review), highlighted the
persistent preservation and creative application of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi
Minh Thoughts in the transitional period to socialism in Vietnam.

He attributed huge achievements of historical significance
made in the country’s renewal process to the correct understanding of the
scientific and revolutionary nature of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh
Thoughts and creative application of these mentoring documents in the reality
of building socialism in the country.

Tan noted, “The course of implementing the renewal policy
over the past 25 years has shown that the more our national construction and
development advance, the more complicated and difficult issues we will face,
which will place our country in new opportunities as well as new challenges”.

“These require us to assess our understanding again, apply
creativity and supplement and develop Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh Thoughts
in accordance with the new global context as well as specific conditions in the
country,” Tan said.

Party Central Committee member, Huynh Dam, who is also
President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF) Central Committee, focused on
promoting the national great unity to contribute to executing the 11th Party
Congress Resolution successfully.

Dam laid stress on the need for the Party to continue
reviewing its leading methods and to strictly follow the principle of
democratic consultation while working with the Vietnam Fatherland Front and
other mass organisations, respecting the VFF’s self-reliance, giving support to
its voluntary, active, and creative activities and listening sincerely to
opinions contributed by the VFF and other mass organisations.

The Party must well perform its role as both the leader and
a member of the VFF, Dam said.

Another presentation, about “boosting the development of a
knowledge-based economy to make the country develop fast and sustainably”, was
delivered by Vu Hong Khanh, from the delegation of the Hanoi City Party
Committee.

Khanh spoke of problems emerged from an economic development
model that lacks environmental protection and resolutely backed the 2011-2020
socio-economic development strategy which champions sustainable development as
the top priority and a thorough demand.

Nguyen Van Dua from the delegation of the Ho Chi Minh City
Party Committee presented delegates with a proposal on five groups of policies
and solutions to remodel development and restructure the national economy.

He pointed to the necessity of changing the thinking
concerning the state’s economic management function by using a planning tool
that fits the operation of the market mechanism, effective use of
economic-financial policies to stimulate the internal restructuring process in
economic sectors, as well as making State economic institutions be facilities
to remedy and limit flaws of the market.

The delegates heard a host of presentations delivered by
Party Central Committee members.

They included, “Ten year implementation of the 2001-10
socio-economic development strategy reviewed and lessons learnt to deploy the
2010-20 socio-economic development strategy” by Minister of Planning and
Investment Vo Hong Phuc; “Environmental protection in the process of pushing up
industrialisation and modernisation for fast and sustainable development” by
Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Pham Khoi Nguyen; “Building the
Vietnam People’s Army revolutionary, regular, professional, and well-trained
and gradually modernising it to defend the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the
new circumstance” by Vice Director of the General Politics Department of the
Vietnam People’s Army Ngo Xuan Lich; and “Enhancing and expanding the Communist
Party of Vietnam’s relations with communist parties, left-wing parties, ruling
parties and political parties in the world” by Head of the Party Central
Committee’s External Relations Commission Hoang Binh Quan.

At the session, the delegates were informed that the 11th
National Party Congress had so far received 149 congratulatory messages from
parties, organisations and friends all over the world.

Delegates underline
the need to strengthen Party

It is essential to build up the Party strongly in terms of
ideology, politics and organisation, and enhance the Party’s leadership and
combat capacity.

That is the common view shared by delegates attending the 11
th National Party Congress in separate interviews granted to correspondents of
the Vietnam News Agency on the sidelines of the country’s premier five-yearly
political event.

Delegate Tran Nam Hong, member of the Standing Board of the
Party Committee of the central province
of Ha Tinh, said the
report presented by Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh at the opening
session covered a full range of fields, from socio-economic issues to
Party-building work.

Hong laid special stress on the need to build up the Party
more cleanly and powerfully and enhance its leadership and combat capacity. “It
is necessary to build up the Party strongly in terms of ideology, politics and
organisation, and special attention should be paid to personnel, particularly
those at grassroots levels,” he said.

The delegate also noted that the campaign, “Study and follow
Ho Chi Minh’s moral example” should be further stepped up, in combination with
rectifying the Party, considering it a vital issue of the Party.

“Together with continuing the campaign, it is necessary to
competently perform the personnel-related work and carefully appraise and train
cadres so they can faithfully accomplish their assigned tasks,” Hong
elaborated.

Nguyen Van Thuan, former Secretary of the Hai Phong
Municipal Party Committee, said in the face of opportunities and challenges,
each delegate must be aware of his/her responsibility, not only to the
Communist Party of Vietnam, but also to the entire nation, by participating
deeply in deciding the Congress’s contents and putting Congress resolutions into
action.

Thuan talked about the need for comprehensive renewal,
stressing economic reform should be based on political reform to ensure
stability, therefore the reform of politics must be accelerated and people’s
right to mastery must be promoted.

Evaluation and selection of officials for leadership
positions at all levels should be renewed and conducted in a more democratic
and practical way, he added.

Meanwhile, Dinh Tien Phong, Vice Secretary of the Thanh Hoa
Provincial Party Committee, expressed his hope that the ongoing Congress would
create big changes within the Party, thus mapping out a firm guideline toward
socialism and turning Vietnam
into a modern industrialised country by 2020.

“The most important task of the Congress is to elect the
most preeminent comrades to the 11th Party Central Committee, who have
sufficient knowledge, wholeheartedness and ability.” Phong said.

The same day, delegates debated the country’s development
orientation and major socio-economic issues which were highlighted in documents
presented to the congress.

Army building in new
circumstance

Vice Director of the General Politics Department of the
Vietnam People’s Army Ngo Xuan Lich has underlined the need to build a
revolutionary, regular, professional, and well-trained Vietnam People’s Army
and gradually modernise it to meet the demand for firmly defending the
Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the new circumstance.

“This is a vital issue, a basic viewpoint and a consistent
leading guidance of our Party,” he stressed.

Over the past years, the Party and State have always paid
attention and given out leading guidance, solutions and instruction to
reinforce the army in political, ideological and organisational spheres, Lich
said.

Accordingly, the army has become a reliable and loyal combat
troop and political force of the Party and the people, having high combat
capacity.

The army has proactively provided prompt and effective
consultancy to the Party and State in military and defence areas and
competently performed functions and tasks assigned for the combat army.

It has been the key force in safeguarding the national
independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity as well as in
protecting the Party, the State, the people and the socialist regime, and building
a strong all-people defence and a solid all-people defence in combination with
a people’s security disposition.

Lich also stressed that the army has taken an active role in
promoting socio-economic development and building political bases at localities,
especially disadvantaged and important locations such as remote, border areas
and islands.

It has acted as a key force in search and rescue activities
during times of natural disasters and environmental catastrophe, as well as in
post-disaster relief operations while carrying out external defence activities
to contribute to maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national
construction and development, the officer said.

According to Lich, peace, cooperation and development remain
big trends nowadays, however, complex and unexpected developments taking place
in the region and the world include elements that could lead to instability.

“Our current revolutionary tasks demand a peaceful and
stable environment be maintained for the country to develop, risks of war
prevented and stamped out, all hostile forces’ sabotage activities be thwarted
to firmly defend the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and at the same time to be
ready to achieve a win in an ever more complicated circumstance,” Lich said.

Therefore, the officer emphasised the need to gain a
thorough understanding of the Party’s viewpoints pertaining to the tasks of
building and modernizing a revolutionary, regular, professional and
well-trained people’s army.

He also noted the need to renew and develop suitable
contents as well as formulas relating to the building of the army on the
grounds of a new stream of thinking on defence and protection of the country in
the new condition, saying these should conform with the army’s real capacity
and meet immediate and long term requirements and tasks.

Lich has presented issues that needed to be focused on for
successfully building a revolutionary, regular, professional, and well-trained
Vietnam People’s Army and modernising it to satisfy requirements and tasks to
defend the country firmly at present and in the future.

He consistently underlined the principle of taking the
building of a politically firm army as a basis for raising the army’s overall
quality and strength with the maintenance and unceasing reinforcement of the
Party’s resolute and direct leadership over the army in all fields.

Efforts must concentrate on making the army strong in
personnel and organisation to ensure its stability, rationalisation, and good
training to be capable of fulfilling all tasks assigned.

To become well-trained, the army must focus firstly on its
political, technical and tactical spheres so that it can meet all requirements
of the mode of struggle to protect the country in the new period and be capable
of defeating all enemies in any situation, including a war where hi-tech
weapons are used. It must work to prevent and fight off the “peaceful
evolution” and the “self-evolving” and “self-transforming” inner process
triggered by the “peaceful evolution”, Lich said.

The officer said the army must proactively and actively
implement a policy of gradual and effective modernisation.

Apart from promoting and raising the effective use and
exploitation of existing weapons and equipment, the army needs to be equipped
with new, cutting-edge weapons and equipment to enable it to defend the
fatherland in the new circumstance.

The army also needs to continue speeding up its external
defence activities to create a new position and strength for the all-people
defence, Lich noted.

Source: VNA/VOV