Party Congress: Institutional reform, growth model renovation in focus

Vice Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee and Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung said the perfection of institutions is a prerequisite for successfully developing a socialist-oriented market economy in the context of increasingly intensive and extensive international integration.

He emphasised the need to review the current growth model in order to consider whether it is suitable for the new stage of development or not.

While reviewing, it is necessary to define the popular characteristics of the modern market economy with roadmaps for the adjustment and supplement of related policies, laws and guiding documents, Chung said, adding that specific features of each region and each locality should be taken into account.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Thanh Phong, a Party Central Committee member, Vice Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, stressed major solutions to improve growth quality and competitive capacity.

According to him, perfecting institutions is a core factor in increasing growth quality, with a focus on forming motives, and creating breakthroughs in administrative and public finance reform.

There is a need to distinctly define decentralisation, the division of responsibilities and authorisation while creating a mechanism to enhance the efficiency of the Government’s inspections of local authorities, he stated.

Attention should be paid to the specific characteristics of urban areas – especially the motivational role of special ones, and improving productivity and knowledge, Phong stated.

International integration should be seen as a motive for increasing growth and competitiveness while ensuring social security and sustainable poverty reduction, he added. 

Representing the Party Organisation of the planning and investment sector, Bui Quang Vinh, 11th Party Central Committee member, emphasised the urgency of reforming the political system and economy in a uniform manner.

Vinh, who is also Minister of Planning and Investment, proposed that the upcoming reform of economic institutions focus on achieving economic growth in tandem with sustainable environmental protection. This will boost the start-up movement, which should be supported by the State. The country should also keep up its active reforming programme, aiming to achieve a high growth rate in the long run. 

For his part, Le Viet Chu, Secretary of the Party Committee of Quang Ngai province, discussed the promotion of the sea-based economy while delivering a presentation of the delegation of the Quang Ngai provincial Party Committee. 

He affirmed that developing the sea and island-based economy should be closely associated with protecting national sovereignty over seas and islands during the processes of industrialisation, modernisation and international integration. The country must pursue this urgent, long-term policy.

To realise the goals set forth in the Vietnam Sea Strategy to 2020, Quang Ngai province suggested the Party Central Committee adopt plans on investment, construction and modernisation of seaports, along with implementing upgrades to coastal transport networks. It has asked for exclusive policies to support fishermen operating on fishing grounds in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagoes.

For his part, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh asserted that “proactive and active international integration” must be regarded as a crucial content in socio-economic development plans in order to build an independent, self-reliant and sustainable economy, accelerating economic restructuring, and participating deeply and broadly in regional and global value chains.

Deputy Minister Anh also noted that the Party and State should pay heed to renewing technology and protecting the environment when developing the economy and trade. The efforts aim to raise the quality of domestically made commodities and services in international markets.