Prime Minister Nguyen
Tan Dung has written an article about major contents of the draft
socio-economic development strategy for the 2011-2020 period and the country’s
key tasks in 2011.

I.
National situation and international circumstance

1.
In continuing to follow the Party’s renovation guidelines, we have, during the
2001-2010 period, created new driving force for the national development.

By
expanding democracy in the economy through stipulating and enacting the
Enterprise Law, promoting the development of privately-run economy, stepping up
State-owned enterprise equitisation and foreign investment attraction,
implementing administrative reforms with the focus on administrative
procedures, participating deeply and broadly into regional and international
integration process, and joining the World Trade Organisation, we have been
able to tap our country’s inner strength and potential, make use of external
resources and combine national strength with the power of our times.

During
a decade of implementing the 2001-2010 strategy under effects from the regional
crisis and adverse impacts from the global crisis, our country has weathered a
great array of difficulties, challenges, as well as complex developments in the
global economy to record immense and very important achievements. The draft
2011-2020 socio-economic development strategy gives an overview of the major
results we have gained as well as problems and difficulties and draws lessons
from reality.

2.
We enter a new strategic phase in the context of rapid changes and unexpected
fluctuations occurring in the word. The following is the prominent tendencies.

(1)
The leaping development of science and technology; the formation of the
knowledge-based economy, the use of energy-saving and environmentally-friendly
technologies; the development of a green-economy. These will be seen as the
major driving force to change the global economic and market structures and
boost economic reforms and restructuring in each country as well as economic
structure shifting among countries. Each country will accept the process
naturally or in a proactive manner depending on its own internal capacity and
policies.

(2)
Deeper and broader globalisation and economic connectivity, thus pushing up the
internationalisation of production and labour assignment and shaping a global
production network and a global value chain. In that context, competition will
increasingly be fiercer. Accordingly, developing an independent, self-reliant,
and highly-competitive economy will become our country’s biggest economic
challenge in the next decade.

(3)
The growing role of newly-emerging economies, especially the robust development
of India and China , will
change the balance of economic and political power in the world. Holding a
crucial geostrategic position, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) has been making deeper and broader integration, thus facilitating each
member country’s development and affirming its major role in regional
architecture that is taking from. However, there are risks hidden in this
region that may affect stability and development in our country as well as
other countries in the region.

After
crisis, the global economy’s recovery has been occurring slowly and full of
contradictions; the public debt crisis is still spreading and threats of a
monetary warfare yet being eliminated. In that circumstance, policy adjustment
made by countries, especially powerful countries, will amplify risky level and
uncertainty.

In
parallel with that, environmental degradation and climate change, particularly
sea level rise, to which our country is among a few that will be hardest
affected, can become a big variable in our country’s development course.

With
such ample challenges and opportunities, never has the international
circumstance exerted such big influence on our country’s development. The
question is what we must do and what position we will stand in this complicated
movement.

The
draft strategy has defined the viewpoints to serve as the basis for determining
goals and outlining development orientations for the 2011-2020 period that suit
the national circumstance and international context and ensure their unity with
long-term goals set forth in the draft Platform.

II.
New progress in development thought

1.
Viewpoints on development

The
viewpoint on sustainable development as presented in this draft strategy pursue
a new internal perception which reflects the close link between fast
development and sustainable development and considers sustainable development a
requirement that run-through the Strategy. The viewpoint aims to handle the
relations between economic development and socio-cultural development in the
right way to achieve social progress and fairness and protect the environment.
It emphasizes securing a fast growth rate, narrowing the development gap with
other countries, and at the same time eliminating the way of thinking that
focuses on growth rate rather than growth quality.

In
the renovation course over the past 25 years, our Party begun with economic
reform, making it the key in liberating all resources available in our country.
This step is necessary and correct. However, when the economic renewal has
recorded great achievements and economic relations made basic changes, it is
essential to carry out economic and political renewals concurrently to promote
a comprehensive renewal. This reflects our Party’s accurate awareness on moves
to be taken and the dialectics of development of the renewal process. The draft
strategy underlines that “renewal should be taken in a simultaneous and proper
manner in both economic and political spheres towards the goal of building a
Socialist Republic of Vietnam into a strong, democratic, just and civilised
country with rich people. The implementation of this goal must be taken as the
highest standard to evaluate the effectiveness of the renewal and development
process”.

The
focus of political renewal is to perfect the content and breath a new life into
the Party’s leading methods, combine Party committees’ power and
responsibilities in performing their leading role, broaden democracy in the
Party and the entire society with the aim of bringing into full play the State
agencies’ active role, the people’s great creative capability and the strength
of the national great unity bloc in the national construction and defence.

We
are living in the era of globalisation during which economic competition is
taking place fiercely. Each country tries to seek ways to make the best use of
its available comparative advantages and turn them into competitive advantages
and at the same time creating new competitive ones.

Though
being very important available comparative advantages, natural resources and
geo-economic location are, however, not the most decisive factors. Reality has
proved that human resources are an internal dynamic factor which decides a
nation’s long-term competitive advantage.

This
is especially right at a time when science and technology – human being’s
intellectual product has made leaping developments as seen in our era.
Moreover, economic development goals are eventually set for the people, thus a
person can develop comprehensively, leads a life that is materially and
spiritually rich, has intellectual ability and is able to utilize his/her
creative ability, while aware of the inevitable so that he/she is able to
master himself/herself as well as society and reach freedom. The draft strategy
highlights the viewpoint of “maximising the human factor, considering the people
the subject, the key resource and the target of development”. It also
emphasises the need to enhance capacity and create mechanisms to enable the
people to fully exercise their rights to mastery, especially to direct
democracy, to bring into full play all forms of creativity and ensure a high
consensus in society, thus creating a driving power for the country’s
development.

The
viewpoint of “strongly developing production forces with increasingly high
scientific and technological levels while at the same time perfecting
production relations in the socialist-oriented market economy” lays stress on a
new, important requirement of production forces and production relations.

Production
forces need to rely on growingly high scientific and technological level, which
reflects the trend that science and technology has become a direct production
force while production relations in the socialist-oriented market economy must
ensure that “all economic sectors and all forms of enterprises develop in a
fast and harmonious manner.

The
State economic sector’s potential, strength and efficiency are enhanced. The
State economy holds the leading role and acts as an important material force to
help the State regulate and orientate the national economy, thus contributing
to stabilising the macro-economy. The collective economy is developed in
diverse forms with cooperative playing the core.”

The
State economy not only comprise State-owned enterprises but also other
resources owned by the State, including the state budget, land, natural
resources and national reserve. Through development policies and effective
regulating and allocating mechanisms, these resources will be factors to
activate and direct the implementation of structural policies and
socio-economic development in general. Hence, the State economy’s leading role
does not involve only materials resources but also in policy impacts and the
State’s ability to use these resources effectively. This role is not only
involve economic development either, but also socio-economic development in
general. This requires us to study again and re-define the operation and
management mechanisms of State enterprises.

Apart
from defining the State economy’s leading role, the draft strategy stresses on
the need “to create an equal environment for competition among all economic
sectors, encourage the development of multi-ownership forms of production and
business mainly joint stock businesses to make this economic form popular in
the national economy, thus speeding up socialisation of production, business
and ownership. Mechanisms and policies need to be perfected for the strong
development of the private economy, turning it into one of the driving forces
behind the national economy.”

Beginning
with economic integration, countries are expanding their integration course to
other fields as part of an objective process. In order to be active and
proactive in our international integration and improve the effectiveness of the
process, we need to “build an increasingly independent and self-reliant economy
in the context of wider and deeper international integration”. It is very
necessary to stress in the current circumstance. Only when the country’s
economic potential and business forces are strong, then the national economy is
robust and the country’s position in integration is heightened. The more
effective our integration is, the more favourable conditions we can enjoy to
build an independent and self-reliant economy.

2.
The strategy’s goals and breakthrough points

The
draft strategy outlines the general goals of “striving to turn our country
basically into a modern industrialised country by 2020; with stable,
democratic, rule-governed, and consensual politics-society; the people’s
spiritual and material life is enhanced remarkably; independence, sovereignty,
unity and territorial integrity are maintained; Vietnam’s position in the
international arena continues to be heightened; and a firm premise will be
created for the country to develop further in the next phase.”

Taking
economic development as the core, the general goals and specific targets
mentioned in the draft strategy constitute the unity of economy, social
affairs, politics, defence and security. They combine mid-term tasks with
long-term development requirements to become the “Party’s second platform” with
the aim of deploying tasks set in the first phase of implementing the Platform.

To
achieve these general goals and specific targets, we need to carry out
simultaneously various solutions and make breakthroughs in areas with blocked
points which are hindering development. Once these areas are cleared, premises
will be created for us to liberate all potential and effectively exploit all
resources for development. The draft strategy plans to make three breakthroughs
as follow:

Firstly,
to perfect the socialist-oriented market economy institution, focusing on
forming an environment of equal competition and administrative reform. The good
point of the market economy has is the rational distribution of resources in
accordance with the market’s signals, thus increasing the economy’s common
efficiency.

The
market economy can only be perfected when all factors and all kinds of markets
are formed synchronously within an environment of equal competition.
Competition is an inherent character of the market economy. Through
competition, businesses are forced to seek ways to cut down production costs
and increase productivity – which in the final analysis is the decisive factor
for the triumph of a mode of production, a social regime. The market economy is
always run by administrative institutions and procedures.

Thus,
in order to perfect the socialist-oriented market economy institution, it is
necessary to accelerate administrative reform, creating favourable conditions
to people and businesses. On the other hand, the market economy that we are
building is a socialist-oriented market economy, in which economic development
must be in harmony with socio-cultural development and the implementation of
social progresses and justice in every step and every development policy.
Therefore, the State should have proper policies and effectively use regulation
tools in order to deal with problems caused by the market economy.

Secondly,
to rapidly develop human resource, especially the high-quality one, focusing on
reforming basically and comprehensively the national education system; and
combine closely the development of human resource with the application of
scientific and technological advances. Human beings are the subject producing
all material and spiritual products. Humans create institutions, develop and
apply sciences and technologies, and are the most important productive force.
Hence, to basically and comprehensively renew the national education system in
order to develop the human resource, especially high-quality one, must be seen
as a strategic breakthrough.

This
is both an urgent demand and a long-term task. The need to combine closely the
development of the human resource with the development and application of
sciences and technologies is a new content, showing the target of the human
resource development. Only the human resource that is able to develop and apply
scientific and technological advances in production and management work can
obtain a high productivity for a rapid and sustainable development.

Thirdly,
to build a comprehensive infrastructure system and a number of modern projects,
concentrating on large-scale urban infrastructure and transport systems.
Infrastructure is a “link’ for productive factors to shift and a condition for
the socio-cultural development in regions of the country. The weakness of the
infrastructure system now is a big obstacle for socio-economic development,
increasing costs, reducing competitiveness, preventing the converging and
spreading effects from inner factors, as well as the use of our country’s
geo-economic location in the global chains of supply, and threatening to
expanding the gap in living conditions between regions in the country. In the
next ten years, we should mobilise all resources to make this breakthrough.

3.
Directions for development

Based
on the above-mentioned points of view and overall targets, the draft strategy
maps out 12 directions for development, forming a synchronous system of major
solutions in all fields of economy, society, environment, national defence,
security and external relations as a perfect whole of sustainable development;
ensuring the combination of two strategic tasks of building socialism and
defending the socialist republic. The following are the some new contents:

It
can be said that restructuring the economy, shifting the development model,
developing social fields in harmony with developing the economy and
environmental protection are the most important ideas as well as the new points
in the development thought.

The
restructuring of the economy is not an issue to be considered only in the
context of crisis. This process happens in progress or by leaps and bounds in
correspondence with the development of sciences, technology and the shift of
competitive advantages between countries. The content and pace of restructuring
depends on the specific conditions in each country. For our country, the
restructuring of the economy must be conducted synchronously in the fields as
follows:

(1)
To accelerate industrialisation and modernisation process, push up the economic
restructuring, increase rapidly the proportion of industry and services in GDP.
In the other hand, it is necessary to attach importance to the long-term
strategic role of agriculture in stabilising the society, ensuring cooking
security and improving farmers’ living conditions.

(2)
To restructure production and services sectors, focusing on developing
supporting industries and hi-quality services of big added value in order to
produce competitive products capable of joining the global production network
and value chains. At the same time, we must build a commodity agriculture using
high technology in order to increase value added on an unit of land acreage;
closely combine scientific-technological application with production,
production and processing with distribution within a value chain, ensuring the
harmony of interests among links of this value chain, and agricultural
development with the building of new-styled areas.

(3)
To restructure enterprises, continue renewing State-owned businesses, and
strongly develop private ones. In parallel, each enterprise must conduct
self-restructuring to adapt to the technological and market changes in order to
increase productivity, quality and efficiency.

(4)
To pay more attention to the domestic market. Businesses should develop the
distribution network of domestic market in order to dominate this market, using
it as the base to reach further to the world markets, expand export markets and
effectively exploit the markets that join free trade agreements.

(5)
To adjust investment mechanism and increase investment efficiency. The State
concentrates investment on developing human resource and most essential
socio-economic infrastructure projects, at the same time mobilising resources
of economic sectors for development investment. To encourage investment in
production of big value added products, supporting industries and those using
clean technologies. To limit investment in mining industry and industries
occupying large acreages of land or using a lot of energy, and to reject
low-tech investment projects polluting the environment.

Implementing
the contents of the above-mentioned restructuring requires the shifting from
the growth model that depends on increasing investment capital, exploiting
natural resources and low-quality human resource to the in-depth growth model
that relies on applying new scientific and technological achievements and using
skillful human resource and modern management skill. These factors are closely related
to one another and have an integrated impact and a decisive role in raising the
efficiency of capital utilisation, increase labour productivity and
competitiveness. Science and technology are the decisive motive power and human
beings play the central role who invent and use science and technology and
execute management functions. Only can modern management skills bring into play
the impacts of the two factors.

Changing
the growth model is an objective requirement of the development process,
particularly in the context of globalisation and fierce competitiveness but it
is impossible to act under one’s wish. Premises and conditions must be created
for the shifting process. These premises and conditions are strategic
breakthroughs. Hence, the first years of the coming strategic period should
focus on settling breakthroughs and logically combining wide-scale and in-depth
growth towards the in-depth model.

Economic
restructuring and changing the growth model require the efforts of all
branches, authorities at all levels and the business community in which the
State is responsible for paving the way and providing assistance while
businesses are the subject and the major force of the process.

Socio-culture
is a broad field with interactive associated contents and has a strong impact
on economics, all fields of life, each person and the whole community. Culture
forms a value system of a nation, creates an identity of a nation and is an
important factor in the development thought. President Ho Chi Minh said “culture
lights up the road for people”. The draft strategy aims for “the comprehensive
development of socio-cultural fields in harmony with economic development, and
the good handling of the relationship between economy and culture to turn
culture into a real spiritual foundation for the society and a development
driving force.” The draft strategy sets the requirement of basic and
comprehensive reform of the national education to increase the human resource’s
quality. This is a highlight in the draft strategy, aiming to overcoming
shortcomings and weaknesses and creating new developments in socio-cultural
fields.

Over
the past years, the Party and State have always paid attention to ensuring
social security and welfare for the people with documents with regulations on a
number of concrete policies. The draft strategy outlines a system of uniform
and comprehensive viewpoints and policies which will serve as a foundation for
the development of an effective and sustainable social security and welfare
system.

Manifesting
a full awareness of the threat of environmental pollution, climate change and
rising sea level to sustainable development, the draft strategy presents basic
directions and concrete targets regarding environmental protection and
improvement, emphasising the requirement of environmental protection in each
branch and locality’s development strategy and scheme as well as in each
project, promoting the society’s involvement in environmental protection and
environmental services’ development. The draft strategy lays stress on the
implementation of programmes to cope with climate change, particularly rising
sea level, and accelerating international cooperation in this global issue.

4.
Raising the effectiveness and efficiency of State management

To
successfully implement the strategy with the above mentioned contents,
unceasing efforts are required to perfect the mechanism of the Party
leadership, the State management and people’s mastery. The draft strategy
manifests more profound awareness of the relationship among three components of
the mechanism in the context of our Party being the only one holding power and
the existence of a socialist law-governed State. The Party plays the leading
role while the people are the masters; the Party performs its leadership by the
State and through the State. In this mechanism, the people entrust the State
with implementing the management power with the basic function of creating an
environment for development and serving development. It is a must to set the
request of enhancing the Party leadership in the relationship with increasing
the effectiveness and efficiency of the State management and bringing into play
the people’s right to mastery. The draft strategy defines the State’s functions
of management and facilitation of development, the relationship between the
State and the market; puts forward solutions to renovate the Party’s leadership
modes and raises the effectiveness and efficiency of State management; and
emphasises the requirement of bringing into play the role of the Vietnam
Fatherland Front, socio-political organisations and the people’s right to
mastery in Party building and the State construction. Together with finalising
institutions to exercise democracy and increase direct democracy, the draft
highlights social critics’ role and the responsibility of explanation of State
agencies at all levels. Social critics and the responsibility of explanation
contribute to, perfecting policies and increasing management and leadership
capability.

III.
Creating a strong change in the first year of implementing the strategy

The
2011-2020 strategy’s viewpoints and orientations must be included in the 2011
socio-economic development plan. The Government has reported and the National
Assembly has adopted a Resolution on the 2011 socio-economic development plan
which comprehensively puts forward targets, tasks and big solutions. Following
are key tasks of 2011.

1.
Stabilising macro-economy and controlling inflation

We
implement the 2011 socio-economic development plan in the context of a
predicted slower growth of the world economy, higher commodity prices than
2010, the likely spread of the public debt crisis in the Euro zone, the
devaluation of the US dollar – the major currency in international payment, and
the rise in gold price which will change investment channels and cause big
fluctuations in the international financial market.

In
the country in 2010, the economy recovered and attained a relatively high
growth rate (6.78 percent), exports increased sharply (25.5 percent), trade
deficit represented only 17.3 percent of export revenues and deficits in
balance of payments was reduced dramatically. However, the high inflation and
interest rates and the fluctuations of the exchange rate have put pressure on
macro economic stability, caused difficulties to business and production
activities and threatened sustainable growth. In 2011, efforts need to be focus
on reinforcing macroeconomic stability and controlling inflation which are
considered a key task.

The
gap between savings and investment must be narrowed, unnecessary projects cut
to concentrate resources on projects that create new production and export
capabilities and essential socio-economic infrastructural facilities, budget
overspending and trade deficit must be cut and inflation curbed. Recent years’
reality has proved that macro policy must convey clear messages in order to
create confidence for the market and make orientations for business and
production activities. It is a must to closely follow the world and domestic
economic movements, improve forecast capability, make active and sharp
reactions, flexibly use monetary policies’ tools under the market principles,
restrict the use of administrative measures when unnecessary, increase the
interbank market’s efficiency in stabilising and regulating capital sources
among credits organisations, and closely combine financial policy with monetary
policy to stabilise the macro economy and control inflation. It is necessary to
increase monitoring the activities of credits organisations, securities
companies, investment funds so as to ensure honest business activities and
abide by safety standards.

2.
Strongly starting the economic restructuring process and changing the growth
model

To
focus on perfecting institutions and creating a healthy land market based on
the principle that land is national asset and farmers’ main production
material. The State and people who hand over the land use rights must be those
who benefit from transferring land use rights. This is a basic principle to
make land policies and market.

To
accelerate the reform of State-owned enterprises (SOEs). Although the SOEs
reform is a content of business restructuring, it is a condition to create an
equal competitive environment for all economic sectors – a criteria of the
market economy. The orientation and main content of the SOEs reform are to
speed up the equitisation and renovation of State corporations and groups.
State economic groups and corporations should focus on major fields of the
national economy and change from operating in various fields to specialised
fields so as to implement the restructuring policy. They should promote
renovation and creativeness, raising the efficiency and creating long-term
competitiveness to take part in the global production network and value chain.
It is important to place State businesses in the competitive environment and
stipulate quality criteria for business operation. The renovation of mechanisms
and organisations should be conducted to raise the responsibility and the
effectiveness, efficiency of State management and owners’ management for SOEs.
Compulsory auditing mechanism must be implemented and auditing results should
be made public.

In
2010, it is a must to strongly carry out the supporting industrial development
programme, considering it as a key content of the restructuring of industrial
production sectors. It is an urgent need to perfect the mechanism and policies
for development and management of the supporting industry. A link must be
created between manufacturing and assembling enterprises, local firms and
foreign investors in selecting and developing supporting industry in product
groups based on the market’s need and with state orientations, focusing on a
number of engineering products, electric and electronic appliances and IT
products. Foreign investors are encouraged to invest in development of
supporting industry.

It
is necessary to strongly develop high-value-added services which have
widespread effects, such as tourism, distribution, transport, logistics and
seaport services, in order to take advantage of the country’s geo-economic
position in the global supply chain. Improvement of the management mechanism
should be made to accelerate healthy development of financial services and real
estate business. The national IT development programme should be implemented,
with the aim of turning Vietnam into an IT power by 2020.

Efforts
should be made to raise awareness on the important and strategic role of
agriculture in the national industrialisation and modernisation process, and to
implement the 7 th Party Central Committee Resolution on agriculture, farmers
and rural areas. It is necessary to accelerate the implementation of the
programme on building new-styled rural areas. The State increases investment
and encourages enterprises to develop socio-economic infrastructure in rural
areas, invests in biotechnology, processing industry to produce high-yield,
high-quality and competitive products. Examinations should be stepped up on the
compliance to food safety and hygiene standards from production, processing,
circulation to consumption. More investment should be made in storage and
preserving systems to prevent losses and ensure goods’ quality, regulation of
supply-demand, price stability.

3.
Creating favourable conditions for businesses to invest in production and
business development and expand markets, focusing on the following tasks:

To
perfect investment policies and mechanisms to mobilise resources for
development investment and improvement of investment efficiency; expand forms
of investment under the BOT, BT forms, quickly issuing regulations on
public-private-partnership (PPP) cooperation for traffic system development,
especially major projects. To speed up administrative procedure reform in
investment, establishment of land use rights, customs procedure and taxation,
helping reduce business expenditure for enterprises.

To
improve businesses’ access to capital. The development bank’s operations should
focus on supporting small- and medium-sized enterprises; increase this bank’s
fundings for credit guarantee and project appraisal capacity. Priority should
be given to credit resources for key products, while considering a system of
allocating credit quota for business areas based on their contributions to GDP
and export turnover.

To
develop support services for business start-up. It is necessary to accelerate
trade promotion, overseas market expansion to help sharply increase exports,
while increase quality checks of imported commodities to protect consumers and
encourage domestic production. More attention should be paid to the domestic
markets, especially rural ones. The Campaign “Vietnamese use made-in-Vietnam
product” should intensified.

4.
Developing socio-cultural areas, focusing on urgent issues

To
effective build and implement the 2011-2020 social security strategy, the
sustainable poverty reduction programme and the job placement programme for the
2011-2015 period, with the aim of reducing the poverty rate by 2 percent in
2011 under the new criteria; developing insurance types and expanding social
security network.

To
complete policies on medical examination and treatment and hospital fees. To
speed up construction of hospitals using the State budget, encourage economic
sectors to invest in building hospitals; sending more doctors to district- and
commune-level hospitals, ensuring compatibility between facilities, equipment
and medical workers who use the equipment, improving quality of medical check
and treatment at grassroots hospitals, to reduce the burden of provincial and
central-level hospitals. State management on medicines, food hygienic safety is
required to strengthen.

To
take comprehensive measures to improve education quality; continue to implement
approved education-training projects; focusing on both two contents in the
quality of general education which are knowledge and morality. The teaching
staff, teaching and learning conditions should be improved to expand scale of
tertiary education and improve its quality; building a number of high-quality
universities and colleges under cooperation programmes with foreign countries,
international organisations. Vocational training must be strongly developed
with quantity and structure suitable to market demand, focusing on vocational
training for the supporting industry. Rapid development of the technology
market is needed. Incentives must be issued for businesses to apply and renew
technology in order to promote economic restructuring, and the shifting of
growth model.

To
continue pushing up the movement of “All people unite to build cultural life”
focusing on establishing of cultured behaviour, abolishing superstitions, and
making each person behave and live in a cultured manner.

To
implement information dissemination activities to raise awareness on
environmental protection among people and businesses. Checks, inspection and
strict punishment of law violations must be intensified. It is necessary to
implement the national target and action plan on climate change resilience, sea
and river embankment upgrading programmes, flooding control solutions for major
cities and effective response to natural disasters.

To
highlight the responsibility of Party organisations and authorities at all
levels, promoting the roles of the Fatherland Front, mass organisations, the
people and media in the fight against corruption and waste. It is a must to
effectively implement anti-crime and social evil programmes, ensuring traffic
safety order.

5.
Accelerating completion of management mechanism based on the principles of
ensuring the people’s democratic right and promoting the synchronous formation
of the market economy’s elements. It is a need to review decentralisation
system to ensure that the central management on development planning is
strengthened to fully tap comparative advantages in inter-region vision to save
human resources and ensure economic scale while promoting the proactive,
creative and responsible role of localities. Preparations for elections of the
National Assembly, people’s councils and consolidation of the administrations
at all levels for the new term must be done in accordance with the requirements
of building a streamlined, more effective and efficient state administrative
apparatus, focusing on serving people as the main function of administrations
at all levels.

Together
with the above-said tasks, we have to attach importance and well implement
national defence, security, diplomacy tasks, creating a stable peaceful
environment for socio-economic development, firm protection of national
independence sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The
Government and ministries, localities have to pay attention to preparation for
the Tan Mao (the Year of the Cat) Lunar New Year festival, take synchronous
measures to ensure commodities supply, control prices, maintain social order
and security, and traffic safety, and care for the poor and welfare
beneficiaries to ensure that all people enjoy a happy, healthy and economical
Tet festival.

Over
the past time, the entire Party, people and army actively gave opinions to
draft documents to submit to the 11 th National Party Congress. We firmly
believe that the Congress will set out a strategy to meet the country’s
development requirement. The good implementation of the strategy, first of all
fulfilling the 2011 tasks, is a practical work to translate the 11 th Congress
Resolution into reality and carry out Uncle Ho’s statement teaching: “the Party
needs to make good plans for economic and cultural development, in order to
unceasingly improve the people’s life.”/.

Source: VNA