Resolution No. 26-NQ/TW dated May 19, 2018 of the 7th Conference of the 12th tenure on "focusing on building a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially at the strategic level, with sufficient qualities, capacity and prestige, equal to the task" sets a specific goal that by 2025, provincial secretaries will basically be non-locals. Up to now, the number of provincial secretaries who are not local people is increasing, carefully selected and qualified. This has brought a new wind, contributing to innovation and creating many changes for the locality. In the current socio -economic development picture of localities, there is a strong "shadow" of many provincial party secretaries who are not local people. At the same time, many cadres who have been transferred to their localities have matured and returned to hold important positions in the Central Government. Through meetings and conversations with a number of provincial party secretaries who have been rotated recently, VietNamNet summarizes the initial results in implementing the policy of "the secretary is not a local person".
Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Thanh Hai gave VietNamNet a talk with many experiences of a "female Provincial Party Secretary who is not a local".
After nearly 4 years as Secretary of Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee, can you share some thoughts as a Provincial Party Secretary who is not a local?
First of all, I must say that with my own experience as a cadre who has worked for many years in central agencies and worked locally for nearly 4 years, I have deeply understood the necessity and effectiveness of the policy of rotating and transferring cadres in general and the arrangement of Provincial Party Secretaries and City Party Secretaries who are not local people in particular. It can be affirmed that this is a very important and correct policy, especially receiving high support and consensus from the people and the whole society. This is also aimed at realizing Resolution No. 26/2018, Central Committee 7, term 12 "On focusing on building a contingent of cadres at all levels, especially at the strategic level, with sufficient qualities, capacity and prestige, equal to the task". Through the implementation of this policy, it has contributed to creating breakthrough innovations in the leadership and direction of the innovation cause in each locality. At the same time, it also contributes to training, fostering and practicing the mettle, capacity and qualities, especially equipping abundant practical experience, daring to do, daring to take responsibility, daring to face difficulties and challenges for the staff in general and strategic-level staff in particular.
On May 20, 2020, I was mobilized, assigned and appointed by the Politburo to join the Executive Committee, the Standing Committee and hold the position of Secretary of the Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee for the 2015-2020 term and was re-elected at the 20th Provincial Party Congress for the 2020-2025 term. From that moment on, I have always been aware that this is a great honor but also a very great responsibility before the Party, before the people and ethnic groups of Thai Nguyen province. Therefore, I always tell myself that I will wholeheartedly devote myself to my beloved Thai Nguyen from now on. It can be affirmed that, at the time of 2020, Thai Nguyen has a solid position in the socio-economic development picture of the whole region and the whole country, has attracted very large FDI investors such as Samsung, has a fairly good and convenient transportation system, a synchronous education and health system, ... This is the result of many generations of provincial leaders over many years that we - the leaders of this term - are fortunate to inherit. My task and the standing committee, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee is to continue to promote the tradition of solidarity and unanimity to fully promote the potential strengths of the province, the achievements left by previous generations, together bringing Thai Nguyen to a new level of development.
So how is Secretary Nguyen Thanh Hai now compared to nearly 4 years ago, madam?
Compared to nearly 4 years ago, I am still the same, still enthusiastic, eager to contribute, but it can be said that I have matured, become stronger, and more resilient (laughs). It can be said that nearly 4 years have passed in the blink of an eye, with the love, care, sympathy, and trust of the cadres, party members, and people of all ethnic groups in Thai Nguyen province for a female Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee far from home; with the spirit of seeking knowledge, modesty, learning, and listening, I and the provincial leadership have united in leading and directing the implementation of assigned tasks. Up to now, we have achieved some very encouraging results in socio-economic development in recent times. The ancients have a saying "traveling a day, learning a basket of knowledge" and I have been back to Thai Nguyen, working hard at the grassroots for nearly 4 years, so I must have learned countless 'baskets of knowledge' as the ancients said (laughs). That said, I have learned and accumulated a lot of practical experience, extremely valuable lessons that no school can teach.
I would also like to express my gratitude to the Politburo, to the Party and State leaders who have entrusted me with the important responsibility of working in Thai Nguyen. Thanks to that, I have had the opportunity to grasp the situation at the grassroots level and accumulate practical experience in leadership and management. Being close to, attached to, and working with the grassroots level has helped me grow up a lot. Born and raised in the capital Hanoi and then working in the Resistance Capital, the "Thousand Winds" Capital of the past, I feel that I have a real affinity with this revolutionary land. Naturally, I have always thought of myself as a son of Thai Nguyen and will strive to contribute with the provincial leadership and the people of all ethnic groups in the province for a Thai Nguyen that is always "peaceful, happy, prosperous and increasingly developing", building this place to soon become a large, modern economic - industrial center not only of the Northern Midlands and Mountains but also of the Capital region by 2030.
According to you, what is the difficulty of a Provincial Party Secretary who is not a local?
In my opinion, the Provincial Party Secretary is not a local person, which has both difficulties and ease. I think that anything new contains both opportunities, potentials and risks, and potential challenges. Before working locally, I worked in the fields of culture, education, law-making, etc. When I came to work in Thai Nguyen, a very new, comprehensive and general field of work, leading and directing all fields of a locality while I did not have much practical experience, everyone was certainly worried. As a cadre from the Central to the locality, not only I but perhaps many other comrades also need time to learn about the grassroots, grasp the advantages and especially the difficulties, challenges, and practical problems that the locality needs to solve. In addition, going to the grassroots a lot has helped me understand the thoughts and feelings of the cadre team and the expectations and wishes of the local people. From there, I and the provincial leaders proposed directions to solve common problems as well as solutions to solve specific cases and problems.
However, besides the difficulties due to lack of practical experience and not fully understanding the issues of each locality and facility, I find that I also have quite favorable conditions. These are the accumulated experience in law-making, in gathering and supervising the resolution of the aspirations of voters nationwide in all fields, during my two terms working in the National Assembly (Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education, Head of the Petition Committee), including nearly one term as a member of the Standing Committee of the National Assembly. Therefore, with the accumulated experience, when I returned to work in Thai Nguyen, I was very interested and sought many solutions to improve the quality of citizen reception work. I spent a lot of time studying documents, records, and petitions of citizens before receiving them; Applying digital transformation, digitizing documents, images... Before each case, I hold a meeting to listen to the opinions of the support team, the authorities, and the experts on the solution to resolve and handle the case before each time I receive citizens. Directly receiving citizens regularly every month shows me that this is a very important job, but more important is the preparation work before receiving citizens. If well prepared, the quality of receiving citizens will be greatly improved and many cases will be thoroughly resolved, in accordance with the law and with the consensus of the people. In the past 4 years, I have received citizens for 44 sessions with 44 different cases, so far 39 cases have been resolved, and 5 cases are within the deadline for resolution until December 31, 2023. For me, every day of receiving citizens each month is usually a day when I feel very happy because an issue (sometimes lasting for decades) has now been resolved completely and has received high consensus from the people. Improving the quality of citizen reception from the leader also has a strong ripple effect on all levels and sectors in the province. And therefore, many cases have been resolved completely right at the grassroots level, people do not have to continue to wait and send petitions to higher levels. I understand that if the people's wishes are thoroughly resolved, it will have a great effect in building people's trust in the Party, the Government and the cadres and leaders of the province. And when there is trust, there is everything.
From your experience in local leadership and management, what have you learned to overcome the difficulties of a Secretary who is not a local?
Perhaps the lesson of “solidarity” that our ancestors taught is still the most important. The unanimity, “one tree cannot make a forest, three trees together can make a high mountain” and mutual support in the Standing Committee, the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee, and the Provincial Party Executive Committee are always indispensable lessons. At the same time, promoting the role of the leader, absolutely complying with the policies, principles and regulations of the Party is the most profound lesson for me during my time working in the locality. In my opinion, first of all, no matter where, in any circumstance, if there is no united collective, daring to innovate, create, have the desire to develop, dare to face new and difficult problems; if there is no joint efforts of businesses and the trust of the people in the province, I and the collective leadership of the province as well as Thai Nguyen would hardly be able to reap some of the achievements as in the past.
In addition, I always keep in mind that: "The more difficult and complicated the work is, the more open and transparent the leadership and direction must be and concentrate all legal resources to be determined to implement it"; "Correct policy - High consensus - Resolute action" then everything will certainly achieve the best results. When solving and handling work, we must always be enthusiastic, "hot" but absolutely not "hurried"; everything must be implemented "fast" but absolutely not "sloppy"; and must always be "proactive" in all situations but absolutely not "subjective". Thanks to that, I see that no matter how difficult the work is, I, together with the provincial leadership, are determined to try, unanimously agree to find solutions and will complete it.
During your years of experience in the locality, what do you appreciate most?
As I have talked to VietNamNet many times, the thing that I chose and was most interested in when coming to Thai Nguyen was digital transformation. Thai Nguyen has identified digital transformation as an inevitable trend, the shortest and most economical way to help realize many goals in economic development, and an opportunity to create strong breakthroughs in the development process. Therefore, Thai Nguyen has been quite responsive and has paid special attention to the issue of digital transformation in all three areas: digital economy, digital government and digital society. Being ahead in the field of digital transformation is one of the solutions to help Thai Nguyen realize its dream of being a growth pole, a modern industrial economic center not only of the Northern Midlands and Mountains region but also of the Capital region by 2030. And up to now, it is a joy that Thai Nguyen has become one of the top 10 provinces in the country in digital transformation.
In addition, attracting new FDI enterprises and continuing to expand investment in the province is also one of the highlights of Thai Nguyen in recent times, the total export value of Thai Nguyen province is continuously in the top 5 nationwide. Budget collection in the province from the beginning of the term until now, each year is higher than the previous year and reaches the highest level ever. This is the basis for us to have the conditions to care for the poor, people in difficult circumstances and implement many other social security policies. We also have the financial conditions to implement many outstanding public investment projects, such as the project to invest in building the inter-regional road connecting "Bac Giang - Vinh Phuc - Thai Nguyen" (started in 2022, expected to be completed in September 2024) and many provincial roads, district roads, and communal roads are being invested in,... The fact that Pho Yen Town was decided by the Standing Committee of the National Assembly to become a city directly under the province nearly 3 years earlier than the set target and became an important new growth pole of the province, contributing significantly to the growth results of the province in recent times can also be said to be a highlight in the results achieved in the first half of the last term.
So what else makes you worry and want to do in the future?
I still have many concerns, for example, in the field of tourism, our Thai Nguyen is very beautiful, as the poet Nguyen Thin described: "You come to my hometown only once, my hometown, Thai land, is extremely beautiful, the mountains are majestic and poetic, the poetic beauty is so beautiful that you don't want to leave". Thai Nguyen has hundreds of historical relics, and is especially famous for Nui Coc Lake, which was once compared to Ha Long Bay "on land", but currently the investment, attracting investment and tourists to Thai Nguyen is still not commensurate with its potential. Or like Thai Nguyen is most famous for tea, with a total tea growing area of 22 thousand hectares, the largest in the country, but the total revenue from tea trees is currently estimated at only over 11 thousand billion (nearly 500 million USD).
Therefore, we also wish to improve the management of quality, design, and bring culture and tradition into each cup of Thai Nguyen tea to gradually increase the added value of tea trees. I dream that, with the total tea growing area as it is now, by 2035, the total revenue from tea trees of Thai Nguyen province must be 1 billion USD and "Thai Nguyen people will get rich from tea trees". Thus, to build Thai Nguyen into one of the richest and most prosperous provinces in the North of our country as Uncle Ho wished when he visited Thai Nguyen in 1964, I see that there are still many things that need to be implemented promptly in the coming time.
![[Photo] Ready for the top competitions of Vietnamese table tennis](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/5/18/9c547c497c5a4ade8f98c8e7d44f5a41)
![[Photo] Many young people patiently lined up under the hot sun to receive a special supplement from Nhan Dan Newspaper.](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/5/18/6f19d322f9364f0ebb6fbfe9377842d3)
![[Photo] General Secretary To Lam visits exhibition of achievements in private economic development](https://vphoto.vietnam.vn/thumb/1200x675/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/5/18/1809dc545f214a86911fe2d2d0fde2e8)
Comment (0)