| In a half hour,
the newly-elected Party Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam Nguyen Phu Trong answered over ten
questions from six local and foreign journalists at the international press
conference in Hanoi
on January 19. Without any
ready-made documents, the Party Secretary General was “ready to directly answer
any question”. Representatives of the Foreign Ministry, the Party Central
Committee’s Office, the Central
Organization Center
also answered questions with the new Party Chief. With experience as the National
Assembly Chairman, how will you use your experience in interpellation in the
Party? Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu
Trong: Questioning
is one of the forums to ensure democracy. At the 10th National Party
Congress, the idea to organize question and answer sessions at the Party
Central Committee’s meetings was introduced. Delegates can question anything.
However, at the 11th Party Congress, interpellation was not used much
because interpellation in the Party is different from interpellation in the
National Assembly. The
National Assembly discusses daily, urgent issues related to the people and
society. The Party Central Committee discusses great policies and strategies of
the country. I believe
that in the coming time, we need more interpellation in the Party. It is
important to create an environment for Party members to exchange opinions
directly and outspokenly. What fields will you emphasize on to
make your hallmarks? Mr. Trong: Actually, I don’t do anything to
polish myself. The responsibility of a Party member and an official is
seriously implementing the Party’s resolutions. Certainly, in implementing the
Party’s policies, we need to be focused. Building the Party is a great concern
of the people and the public opinion. One of the most important lessons that we
have learned since the Party was established is building solidarity. Building
great solidarity is a strategic issue. Comprehensively
promoting renovation doesn’t mean economic renovation only but also renovation
of other fields. We cannot only integrate into the world economy but we have to
positively integrate into the world economy. We have to strive from now until 2015
to build foundations to become an industrialized country by 2020. There are
three steps for breakthrough, with the key being infrastructure, human
resources and institution. Vietnam
will strive for being a modern industrialized, socialism oriented country by the
middle of the 21st century. You are an ideologist who was
involved in composing Political Program 91. The Party Congress voted on the
most important issue - production materials as public property. In your
opinion, how will this influence the upcoming policies of Vietnam? Mr. Trong: Yesterday I said at the Congress that
it is the right of the Party Congress and we have to obey it. However, it will
not influence the consistency of the Party, or of Vietnam. Some delegates said that the
personnel task was carefully prepared but most of the elected members were
nominated by the Party Central Committee. Some delegates who were additionally nominated
said that they failed at the election because they had little opportunities.
How could you explain this? Mr. Trong: It was a long and careful process
for preparing personnel for the election. Many organizations had to research,
inspect and comprehensively assess all candidates. There were
candidates who were introduced right at the Party Congress so many delegates did
not know them while many others had passed several rounds of introduction and
other delegates knew them clearly. That was the reason that most of the
candidates nominated by the Party Central Committee were elected. But there
were seven candidates introduced by the Central Committee but they were not
elected. I’ve been an
official member of five National Party Congresses, but this was the Congress
with the highest number of candidates. Some analysts said that Vietnam has
taken initiative to cope with economic challenges like high inflation, the
monetary policy, etc. What policy will the Vietnamese government make in the
time coming? Vice chief of the Party Central
Committee’s Office Nguyen Van Thao: Last year, Vietnam’s
inflation was high and foreign debt was big but they were under control. Our
top priority is maintaining macro-economic stability to maintain growth. Our
major measures are boosting the restructuring of the economy to raise quality,
effectiveness and completing institutional changes. The report of the Central Inspection
Committee said that fighting corruption failed to meet its goals. What will the
Party do to fight corruption? Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Binh
Minh: The Party and
State always emphasize fighting corruption and take measures to ensure that all
corruption activities are seriously punished. That’s our policy in the time
coming. There is information that Vietnam
suppresses democratic groups. As the Party Secretary General has said, in this
National Party Congress, delegates exchanged opinion democratically and
frankly. What policy will Vietnam
have to improve human rights in Vietnam? Deputy Foreign Minister Pham Binh
Minh: Human rights
is the goal, the motive force and the policy of the Party and State of Vietnam.
Our state has policies to ensure our people enjoy their rights and these
policies are fully realized. Vietnam
is willing to make dialogue with all related countries about human rights. Countries
have different approaches to human rights. To solve that difference, the
Vietnamese government is willing to have dialogue. That’s our consistent
policy. PV | 
