Speaking at the closing session of the 13th Central Executive Committee on November 25, General Secretary To Lam emphasized his determination to complete the summary and report to the Central Committee on the plan to reorganize and perfect the political system in the first quarter of 2025. In particular, the Central Committee requested the Politburo to direct the Government Party Personnel Committee to propose and streamline the organizational structure and staffing in agencies, units, and organizations within the scope and fields of leadership and management.

General Secretary To Lam. Photo: Nhat Bac

"This is an especially important task, a revolution in streamlining the organizational apparatus of the political system, requiring a high level of unity in perception and action throughout the Party and the entire political system," the General Secretary stated.

Many opinions propose to rename and reduce the number of ministries and branches

Regarding the organization of the Government apparatus, Resolution 18/2017 of the 12th Central Committee, Session 6, on "a number of issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently" has proposed the policy: "Continue to study and clarify the theoretical and practical basis on the scope of multi-sectoral and multi-field management of a number of ministries and branches, especially those with similar and overlapping functions and tasks, to have appropriate solutions and implement the consolidation, organization arrangement, and reduction of focal points in the next term (2021 - 2026) such as: Transport - construction sector; finance - investment planning; ethnic - religious sector...". To concretize Resolution 18, the Government assigned the Ministry of Home Affairs to summarize the organization of the Government apparatus for the 2016-2021 term and develop plans for the Government apparatus for the 2021-2026 term. The Government also directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to continue researching and clarifying the theoretical and practical basis for the multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary management scope of a number of ministries and branches. In particular, emphasizing ministries and branches with similar and overlapping functions and tasks to have appropriate solutions and implement the consolidation, organization arrangement, and reduction of focal points.

In the process of building the organizational structure of the 15th Government (2021-2026), many opinions proposed the plan to rename some ministries and branches and reorganize and reduce the focal points of some ministries and branches with similar functions and tasks. The Government's submission on the organizational structure of the Government for the 2021-2026 term

Implementing the Government's direction, the Ministry of Home Affairs has organized very thorough, scientific and cautious research and discussion on this matter. However, in the difficult context due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic (in 2021), the Government must focus on directing the implementation of the "dual goal". The Politburo also concluded and directed: "In the immediate future, maintain stability in the name, organizational structure, number of ministries and ministerial-level agencies of the 15th Government as in the 14th term". Therefore, at the first session of the 15th National Assembly in July 2021, the Government proposed that the National Assembly, in the immediate future, "maintain stability in the name, organizational structure, number of ministries and ministerial-level agencies of the Government for the 2021-2026 term as in the 14th term" and was approved by the National Assembly.

The Government apparatus has remained stable since 2007.

Looking back at the process of restructuring the apparatus since the renovation (1986) until now, the story of merging ministries and branches with similar and overlapping functions and tasks has been raised. Depending on each historical period, the Government apparatus is arranged accordingly. There was a period when the Government had 36 ministries and branches (term 9, period 1992 - 1997). By term 10, term 1997 - 2002, the Government had 48 focal points. By term 11, term 2002 - 2007, the Government had 38 focal points including: 26 ministries, ministerial-level agencies and 12 agencies under the Government. By term 12, term 2007 - 2011, the Government apparatus was arranged to have 30 focal points including: 22 ministries, ministerial-level agencies and 8 agencies under the Government. The arrangement and merger of ministries and sectors in mid-2007 formed the Government apparatus in the direction of a multi-sector, multi-sector ministry. Specifically, the Ministry of Industry merged with the Ministry of Trade to form the Ministry of Industry and Trade. The Ministry of Fisheries merged with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The Ministry of Culture and Information was split into two sectors, in which the cultural sector merged with the Sports and Physical Training Committee and the General Department of Tourism to form the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; and the Press Department and the Publishing Department merged with the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications to form the Ministry of Information and Communications. In addition, during this period, the Government also dissolved the Committee for Population, Family and Children and transferred the functions of this Committee to relevant ministries. The functions and tasks of state management of population were transferred to the Ministry of Health; the functions and tasks of state management of families were transferred to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism; the functions and tasks of state management of children were transferred to the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs.

The Government currently has 27 members including: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, 5 Deputy Prime Ministers and 21 ministers and heads of sectors. Photo: Nhat Bac

Through many arrangements and mergers, the Government apparatus has remained stable since the 12th term (2007 - 2011) to date with 30 focal points including: 18 ministries, 4 ministerial-level agencies and 8 agencies under the Government. The 18 ministries include: National Defense, Public Security, Foreign Affairs, Justice, Finance, Industry and Trade, Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, Transport, Construction, Information and Communications, Education and Training, Agriculture and Rural Development, Planning and Investment, Home Affairs, Health, Science and Technology, Culture, Sports and Tourism, Natural Resources and Environment. The four ministerial-level agencies include: Government Office, Government Inspectorate, State Bank of Vietnam, and Ethnic Committee.

Complete the organizational restructuring plan in December

In the article titled: "Refined - Lean - Strong - Effective - Effective - Efficient", General Secretary To Lam assessed that after 7 years of implementing Resolution 18, a number of important results have been achieved, initially creating positive changes in innovation, restructuring the apparatus, and improving the operational efficiency of agencies, units, and organizations in the political system.

Resolution No. 27/2022 of the 13th Central Committee, Session 6, on continuing to build and perfect the Socialist rule of law State of Vietnam in the new period sets out the task of continuing to innovate the organization and operation of the Government towards streamlining, effective and efficient operations; organizing ministries and multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary specialized agencies; and reasonably reducing the number of ministries and ministerial-level agencies.

However, the General Secretary also noted that the organizational arrangement of the apparatus is not yet synchronous and comprehensive. Some ministries and branches still take on local tasks, leading to the existence of a request-grant mechanism, which can easily give rise to corruption, waste, and negativity... Therefore, up to now, the organizational structure of the political system is still cumbersome, with many levels and many focal points. The demarcation of the multi-sectoral and multi-field management scope of ministries is not thorough; some tasks are interconnected, linked together or in the same field but assigned to many ministries for management. The apparatus within ministries and ministerial-level agencies still has many levels, some levels have unclear legal status; the number of affiliated units with legal status has increased, increasing the situation of "ministry within ministry"... According to the General Secretary, compared to the great changes of the country after 40 years of Renovation, the organizational structure of our country's political system is still basically following the model designed decades ago, many issues are no longer suitable for new conditions, which is contrary to the law of development; creating a mentality of "saying is not the same as doing". From these analyses, the General Secretary requested the urgent need to carry out a revolution in streamlining the organizational apparatus of the political system.

The Central Committee requested a report on the plan to arrange and consolidate the political system apparatus in the first quarter of 2025.

Recently, the Government requested ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and agencies under the Government to urgently summarize 7 years of implementing Resolution No. 18/2017. This December, ministries and agencies must complete the development of plans to arrange and restructure the apparatus in the direction of a multi-sectoral, multi-field ministry, reducing internal organization, ensuring streamlining, efficiency, effectiveness, and efficiency in accordance with the direction of the Politburo and General Secretary To Lam. On November 16, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh signed a decision to establish a Steering Committee on summarizing the implementation of Resolution No. 18, headed by the Prime Minister. The Steering Committee is responsible for researching and proposing to the Prime Minister tasks and solutions to innovate and arrange the organizational model of the Government, ministries, ministerial-level agencies, and agencies under the Government to be streamlined, operate effectively, and efficiently, and meet the requirements and tasks in the new period; Innovation and reorganization of the system of state administrative agencies. The Steering Committee develops a project to summarize 20 years of implementing the Government's organizational model and propose the organizational structure of the 16th Government (term 2026 - 2031).
During the 14th tenure, the National Assembly conducted supervision on the implementation of policies and laws on reforming the state administrative apparatus in the 2011-2016 period. The supervision results showed that the Government's organizational structure was kept stable, no additional focal points were added, and the organization of multi-sectoral and multi-field management ministries was effective. However, the supervision delegation also noted that the Government's organizational structure was still slow to be adjusted towards streamlining, improving effectiveness and efficiency... Therefore, the National Assembly's supervision delegation proposed to study the consolidation of a number of ministries with similar functions, subjects and management areas.

Vietnamnet.vn

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