The Art of Drafting: Crafting a Compelling Title for “Finalizing the Draft Decree on Policies for Officers during the Streamlining of Apparatus”

“The Golden Window”: Vietnam’s Bold Move to Streamline its Government Machinery

Her Excellency Phạm Thị Thanh Trà, Minister of Home Affairs, emphasized this in her speech at the National Conference on Summarizing Party Building Work in 2024 and Deploying Tasks for 2025, held on December 16 by the Central Organization Committee.

The Minister pointed out that currently, the entire country is highly focused on completing political goals and tasks for 2024 while simultaneously embarking on a revolution to streamline the organizational apparatus.

“This revolution is not just about the apparatus itself but also about liberating our thoughts so that we can all change for a better future for our country. Especially changing our mindset, vision, and perception, and most importantly, reforming and innovating to better promote human factors to drive the development of productive forces, bringing the country into a new era, an era of national advancement as the General Secretary has stated,” said Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà.

However, she also acknowledged that this revolution is full of difficulties, challenges, complexities, sensitivities, and obstacles. Therefore, it demands strong willpower, wisdom, unity, dedication, and even sacrifice. Such sacrifice is, in fact, a form of contribution. Practical experience has shown that there has been great unity, determination, and swift and positive progress in implementing this revolution.

According to Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà, the Communist Party of Vietnam and its leader, General Secretary Tô Lâm, have chosen a very special time to initiate this revolution—a time of historical significance, on the eve of Party Congresses at all levels leading up to the 14th Congress of the Party. This is a time of major decisions for the country to enter a new stage of development and prepare to celebrate 95 years of the Party’s foundation, 50 years of the complete liberation of Southern Vietnam and national reunification, and 80 years of the establishment of the country…

It is also a time of urgency and criticality like never before for the country to develop in line with the changes of the times and the trends of the 4.0 revolution and digital transformation, which are taking place very strongly.

“It is a time that brings together and blends the Party’s will and the people’s aspirations. Or, to put it simply, we have chosen and decided on the ‘golden window’ to carry out this revolution,” expressed Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà.

In less than a month, with the principle of “the Central does it first, then the localities follow; the Central does not wait for the provinces, the provinces do not wait for the districts, and the districts do not wait for the communes,” the revolution to streamline the apparatus has been led and directed consistently and resolutely by the Politburo, the Central Committee, especially the leader of the Party and the advisory bodies, particularly the Central Organization Committee. The Home Affairs Ministry has also been very determined in carrying out this task within the Government block.

As a result, the revolution has generated tremendous momentum and spread throughout the political system with the spirit of “the whole Party, the entire people, comprehensively, synchronously, scientifically, cautiously, fundamentally, and swiftly.”

According to the Minister of Home Affairs, the initial results are already visible. Just within the Government block, the reorganization of administrative units at the district and communal levels has been completed. This involved the reorganization of 39 district-level units and 1,178 commune-level units, resulting in a reduction of 9 district-level units and 563 commune-level units. Localities are making great efforts, and the work is progressing steadily.

The Government is also focusing on tasks related to the summary of Resolution 18 of the Central Committee; the project on merging, integrating, and transferring functions, tasks, organizations, and apparatus within the Government block. Along with this, numerous legal documents have been promulgated simultaneously to ensure timely implementation when organizing and rearranging the apparatus within the Government system.

In terms of structure, the Government currently plans to have 13 ministries and 4 ministry-level agencies, a reduction of 5 ministries and 5 agencies directly under the Government. There will also be a reduction of 12/13 general departments and equivalents; 500 departments and equivalents under ministries and general departments; 177 offices under ministries, ministry-level agencies, and equivalents; and 190 public non-business units under ministries and within ministries.

The Ministry of Home Affairs, as the advisory body, is also finalizing all related reports and proposals to advise the Party Committee of the Government before submitting them to the Politburo on December 25. At the same time, they are guiding ministries, ministry-level agencies, and localities on the rearrangement of civil servants and public employees related to the reorganization of the apparatus within their competence. Upcoming guidelines will also be issued regarding the reorganization of specialized agencies under the People’s Committees of provinces and districts to provide more autonomy to localities.

Outstanding Policies to Retain Talented Officials

Also, according to Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà, regarding policies for officials, civil servants, and public employees in the context of apparatus reorganization, the Ministry of Home Affairs has completed a draft decree and reported it to the Party Committee and the Government’s Steering Committee for submission to the Politburo as soon as possible. The draft decree incorporates several important views and principles.

Firstly, when carrying out a revolution, the mechanisms and policies must also be revolutionary, requiring speed, strength, prominence, humanity, fairness, and ensuring a reasonable overall correlation among subjects. This is to stabilize the lives and protect the rights and interests of officials, civil servants, public employees, and laborers so that no one is left behind in the process of streamlining the political system’s apparatus.

Secondly, there should be a special and prominent focus on encouraging early retirement or retirement within 12 months from the date of the decision on apparatus reorganization by the competent authority.

Thirdly, policy formulation should be linked to the responsibility of the head and the unit in evaluating, screening, and selecting officials, civil servants, and public employees for retirement, in association with streamlining personnel and restructuring and improving the quality of the team to meet requirements and tasks. Particular emphasis is placed on retaining talented and capable officials with good morals to prevent a “brain drain.”

Concurrently with the above policies, according to Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà, the Ministry of Home Affairs is also finalizing policies on attracting and promoting talented individuals in the public sector, aiming to promulgate them by the end of December 2024 for implementation.

Other related contents are also being completed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, reported to the competent authorities, and promulgated in a timely manner to meet the requirements and tasks of apparatus reorganization as directed by the Politburo, the Central Committee, the Central Organization Committee, and the Government’s Steering Committee.

“We believe that with the determination and resoluteness of the entire political system to streamline the apparatus to achieve the goals set by General Secretary Tô Lâm, which are ‘compact – strong – efficient – effective’; with the spirit that has been and is being promoted, our revolutionary cause will succeed, and we will enter a new era, an era of national advancement,” said Minister Phạm Thị Thanh Trà.