General Secretary To Lam: Laying the foundation for a new term, creating momentum for an entire development period

Photo caption — General Secretary To Lam delivers the opening speech at the 14th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

General Secretary To Lam chaired and delivered the opening speech at the Conference.

Politburo member and President Luong Cuong chaired the opening session.

The 14th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee focused on two major contents: the group of issues on the work of the 14th Party Congress and the group of issues on Party building and the political system. Each group of issues will have many specific contents, especially the group of issues on the work of the 14th Party Congress.

Responsibility of "choosing the right person for the right job"

Speaking at the opening of the Conference, General Secretary To Lam stated that time is urgent, work is much, and requirements are high, but the more decisive the moment, the more we must make efforts, seize time, work with the spirit of overcoming challenges, surpassing ourselves with strategic thinking and decisive action for the national interest, for the leadership and ruling role of the Communist Party of Vietnam.

The General Secretary suggested the work of preparing, selecting and introducing personnel to join the Politburo and Secretariat of the 14th term of the Party. At the 13th Central Conference, based on the proposal of the Politburo, the 13th Party Central Committee unanimously voted, with high concentration, to introduce personnel to the 14th Party Central Committee (not including Politburo members and Secretariat members eligible for re-election and special cases) to basically ensure the structure, quantity, standards, conditions, areas and fields of work according to the Personnel Work Orientation of the 14th Party Congress, the Party Election Regulations and the working plan of the Personnel Subcommittee of the 14th Party Congress. This is an extremely important basis and experience for us to continue to inherit and promote in the work of preparing, selecting and introducing personnel to join the Politburo, Secretariat and key leadership personnel of the Party and State of the 14th term, term 2026-2031.

At this Conference, the Central Executive Committee will give its opinion on the number of Politburo members and Secretariat members for the 14th Congress term and select personnel to be introduced to join the Politburo and Secretariat for the 14th term. This is a particularly important task, the core of the core because everything is decided by people. Selecting and introducing personnel to the highest leadership of the Party to lead the implementation of the very high and drastic goals of national development in the new period must be all the more thorough, certain, cautious and accurate.

The selection and introduction of personnel to join the 14th Politburo and Secretariat needs to emphasize a number of important requirements suitable for the new revolutionary stage of our Party and our country.

The General Secretary emphasized that the responsibility of “choosing the right person for the right job”, especially senior personnel, the country’s leaders, is a prerequisite for turning vision and aspirations into results; it is necessary to select and introduce the most worthy people among those who are worthy to join the Politburo and the Secretariat. Those comrades must possess political courage, integrity and ethics, set an example, put the interests of the nation and the people above all; must have a sharp strategic vision and organizational capacity to unlock bottlenecks, unblock resources, and gather strength. More importantly, they must have the capacity to organize and implement: design clear and specific goals, establish personal responsibilities, measure with data, and bring decisions “to the end” with high public service discipline.

In the digital age, indispensable criteria are digital capacity and data thinking, in-depth understanding of digital economy, green economy, circular economy, risk management and inter-sectoral-inter-regional-inter-level coordination. Leaders need the ability to mobilize social resources, design public-private partnerships, create market trust; international integration, foreign languages and dialogue culture to expand development space. Particularly promote and value the quality, efficiency and dedication of cadres, prioritize cadres with works, plans and projects that bring clear impacts; have the ability to handle situations in crisis (natural disasters, epidemics, finance, non-traditional security); be decisive but know how to listen to criticism, rely on people, for the people. The selected person is the one who is most suitable for the development goals in the new period, has high reliability, can withstand pressure, has the will to reform, convert resources into driving force, and turn potential into double-digit economic growth rate so that the country can reach the 2 100-year goals.

The General Secretary noted that, in addition to the general criteria, in selecting and introducing personnel to join the Politburo and Secretariat of the 14th term, special attention should be paid to 5 "plus points", which are: having a national strategic vision, having the ability to maintain the country's autonomy; having the capacity to lead and command on a national scale; having political prestige and integrity at a symbolic level for everyone to follow and learn from; having the ability to implement the Resolution into measurable results and achievements; having enough endurance, both mentally and physically, to withstand the pressure and intensity of work in the 14th term and possibly the following terms.

Decisive in choosing the optimal solution for national interests

Regarding the Report on reviewing the leadership and direction of the 13th Party Central Committee presented to the 14th Party Congress, General Secretary To Lam requested that in the spirit of self-reflection and self-correction, it is necessary to contribute opinions so that the 14th Central Committee can overcome limitations and shortcomings such as: some policies are slow to come into life, there are still outstanding guiding documents, and the implementation is not uniform; decentralization and delegation of powers are not really smooth, vertical and horizontal connectivity is not smooth, accountability is not clear in some places; the organizational apparatus is streamlined in some places but not coupled with improving effectiveness and efficiency; "bottlenecks" in land, capital market, skilled labor... have not been completely resolved; prevention and fight against corruption, waste, and negativity have achieved many results, but early and remote prevention work needs to be more drastic; policy communication has not met the requirements of "correctness - sufficientness - timeliness", public trust is sometimes and in some places challenged.

Regarding the summary of Resolution 18-NQ/TW dated October 25, 2017 of the 12th Central Executive Committee on a number of issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined, effective and efficient, the General Secretary emphasized that seriously implementing the lessons learned from the summary of Resolution 18 is of key significance in transforming the political system from "cumbersome - dispersed" to streamlined - interconnected - effective - efficient, especially when we organize a 2-level local government model and open up new development space after rearranging administrative boundaries at the provincial and communal levels. This is a fundamental condition to maintain stability, development, ensure modern national governance, promote rapid and sustainable growth, improve the quality of life of the people, towards the goal of "rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization", a powerful, prosperous and eternal nation.

The General Secretary stated that in order for the two-level local government model to be most effective, it is necessary to ensure the connectivity and complementarity of the three-level government (Central-Province/City-Commune/Ward) along three axes: institutions-resources-data. In that interconnected structure, the Central government plays the role of managing, creating and ensuring unity throughout the system.

When the three levels of government operate as a whole, with the Central Government creating standards and coordinating inter-regionally; the provincial level organizing strategies, allocating resources, and monitoring results; and the grassroots level serving directly, quickly resolving and responding to real data, the goal of maintaining peace and stability, promoting rapid but sustainable growth, and improving welfare will have a solid foundation. In conclusion, implementing the lessons learned from Resolution 18 according to the model of 2-level, 3-level interconnected local government, with the Central Government as the "institutional architect" will be the decisive lever for a streamlined, transparent, and effective political system, thereby bringing the country forward quickly and steadily to strength, prosperity, and a happy and prosperous people.

The General Secretary expects that the 14th Central Conference will create a very high consensus on: Development vision and strategic orientations to be presented to the 14th Congress; The list of personnel recommended to join the Politburo and Secretariat is truly exemplary, ensuring inheritance and breakthrough; the institutional framework for a streamlined, effective, efficient apparatus, modern governance based on data, decentralization, delegation of power coupled with power control; the implementation mechanism with clear people, clear work, clear deadlines, clear resources, clear accountability.

The General Secretary requested, “Our country is facing a historic opportunity to make a breakthrough, while also facing many unprecedented challenges. To maintain peace, stability, rapid and sustainable development, so that the people are truly prosperous and happy, and so that the country becomes increasingly strong and prosperous, we must make the right decisions and carry out to the end the important tasks set forth by the Central Executive Committee. Each opinion expressed today not only contributes to this Conference but also lays the foundation for a new term, creating momentum for an entire period of development.”

In that spirit, the General Secretary asked the Central Committee members to uphold their responsibility before the Party and the People, promote collective intelligence, be frank, constructive, and decisive in choosing the optimal solution for the national interest as well as in contributing opinions to the contents of the Conference's agenda.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/tong-bi-thu-to-lam-dat-nen-cho-nhiem-ky-moi-tao-luc-day-cho-ca-mot-giai-doan-phat-trien-20251105092644059.htm