Mr. Le Minh Hung: When the merged province is stable, a suitable capital can be chosen.

On the morning of April 16, the Politburo and the Secretariat held a national conference to disseminate and implement Resolution 11 of the 13th Central Committee. Presenting a special topic on continuing to streamline the apparatus, Head of the Central Organization Committee Le Minh Hung said that at the 11th Central Conference, the Party Central Committee had reached a high consensus on the principles and criteria for merging provincial and communal administrative units.

Trưởng ban Tổ chức T.Ư Lê Minh Hưng trình bày chuyên đề về sáp nhập tỉnh, xã, xây dựng chính quyền địa phương 2 cấp tại hội nghị — Head of the Central Organizing Committee Le Minh Hung presented the topic of merging provinces and communes and building two-level local governments at the conference.

Accordingly, the criteria for arranging provinces and communes should be based on natural area, population size, history, cultural traditions, ethnicity, geo-economics, geo-politics, national defense - security, and foreign affairs. Priority should be given to merging administrative units located adjacent to mountainous and delta areas with coastal localities. The highest goal is to expand development space, meeting the country's orientation for rapid and sustainable development in the new period.

Naming a province after the merger or a newly established commune after the rearrangement must be easy to identify, concise, and have traditional and cultural values that are agreed upon and supported by the local people. Priority should be given to using one of the names of the administrative units before the merger to name the new administrative unit.

Regarding the political and administrative center of the new administrative unit after the merger, it is necessary to have a favorable geographical location, synchronous and convenient socio-economic infrastructure, connecting regions, and being consistent with the socio-economic development orientation.

Mr. Le Minh Hung also stated that the political and administrative center of one of the current provinces should be considered as the new political and administrative center. "After the new province has stabilized its operations, it is possible to study the planning and choose to build new political and administrative centers that are reasonable and suitable," the Head of the Central Organization Committee stated.

According to Mr. Le Minh Hung, based on the above viewpoints, principles and criteria, the Central Committee has highly agreed and approved the policy of organizing local government at two levels: provincial level (including provinces and cities directly under the Central Government) and communal level (including communes, wards and special zones directly under provinces and cities).

The number of provincial-level administrative units after the merger is 34 provinces and cities, including 28 provinces and 6 cities directly under the Central Government. The Party Central Committee has also planned the names and political-administrative centers of the provincial-level administrative units of the 34 provinces and cities after the merger and consolidation.

At the same time, the Party Central Committee also agreed to end the operation of district-level administrative units from July 1, 2025, after the 2013 amended Constitution and the Law on Organization of Local Government (amended) come into effect.

Merging commune-level administrative units ensures that the country reduces the number of commune-level administrative units by about 60 - 70% compared to present.

According to Mr. Le Minh Hung, the Party Central Committee and the Politburo require localities to proactively research, develop plans, and report to competent authorities to decide on the implementation of the arrangement, name, and location of commune headquarters, ensuring that commune-level authorities are close to the people, reduce costs, and not form miniature districts.

Regarding the organization of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations and mass associations assigned by the Party and State, the Central Committee agrees with the policy of arranging, streamlining and merging the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations and mass associations assigned by the Party and State at the central, provincial and communal levels.

The Central Committee also agreed on the policy of ending the activities of civil servant unions and armed forces unions; reducing the level of union dues paid by union members. At the same time, the Politburo agreed on the policy of holding congresses of the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations immediately after the Party congresses at all levels.

Head of the Organizing Committee Le Minh Hung also said that the Central Steering Committee on summarizing Resolution 18 of the 12th Party Central Committee also issued Plan 47, clearly stating the tasks of the Party Committee, Government, National Assembly, localities and the completion time.

Accordingly, the request to arrange socio-political organizations and mass associations assigned by the Party and State to be under the Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front must be completed before July 15.

The Party Committee of the Fatherland Front and central mass organizations are also required to guide localities and arrange socio-political organizations and mass associations assigned by the Party and State to be under the Vietnam Fatherland Front at provincial and communal levels in sync with the merger of administrative units, to be completed before June 15...