Attending and chairing the Conference were Politburo members: Truong Thi Mai, Standing member of the Secretariat, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Party Central Committee's Organization Commission, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; Phan Dinh Trac, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Head of the Party Central Committee's Internal Affairs Commission, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; Tran Cam Tu, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Chairman of the Party Central Committee's Inspection Commission, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; To Lam, Minister of Public Security, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee.

Attending the conference were Politburo members, Party Central Committee Secretaries, Party Central Committee members; leaders of central departments, ministries and branches and more than 2,500 delegates attending the online conference connecting to localities. General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong delivered an important speech.

General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, Head of the Steering Committee and Standing members of the Central Steering Committee chaired the conference.

Conference scene.

On May 10, 2022, the 5th Central Conference (13th tenure) agreed on the policy of establishing a provincial Steering Committee for anti-corruption and anti-negativity. Immediately afterwards, the Central Internal Affairs Committee urgently advised the Secretariat to issue Regulation No. 67-QD/TW, dated June 2, 2022 on the functions, tasks, powers, organizational structure, working regime, and working relations of the provincial Steering Committee (hereinafter referred to as Regulation 67-QD/TW), creating favorable conditions for provincial and municipal Party Committees to establish Steering Committees. By August 5, 2022, just nearly three months after the Central Resolution, 63/63 provincial and municipal Steering Committees were quickly established, of which the 3 earliest localities were Hanoi, Da Nang, and Thanh Hoa. Immediately after its establishment, with timely guidance from the Central Government, in a short time, many provincial Steering Committees completed the construction and promulgation of working regulations, assigned tasks to members and developed programs and work plans to unify the implementation of activities.

Summarizing the report on the first year of operation of the Steering Committee for anti-corruption and negative activities of provinces and centrally run cities, comrade Vo Van Dung, member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Central Internal Affairs Committee, member of the Central Steering Committee for anti-corruption and negative activities emphasized: Despite initial difficulties and obstacles, the provincial Steering Committees have made great efforts and determination, promptly implemented activities according to their prescribed functions, tasks and powers; inherited, promoted and creatively applied the experiences drawn from the summary of 10 years of operation of the Central Steering Committee to lead and direct the work of anti-corruption and negative activities in localities and achieved important initial results; especially, they have selected weak links, difficult tasks, and pressing public opinions to focus on directing and resolving.

The Provincial Steering Committee has focused on directing the handling of corruption and negative cases that occurred in the past, the handling process has been prolonged, and there are difficulties and obstacles, while directing the acceleration of the detection and handling of newly arising cases and incidents; and paying attention to directing the implementation of solutions to improve the effectiveness of the work of preventing and combating corruption and negative acts. The Provincial Steering Committee has put 444 cases and 156 complicated corruption and negative acts that are of public concern under the monitoring and direction. 530 new cases/1,858 defendants were prosecuted for corruption crimes; the number of cadres and party members prosecuted for corruption and negative acts is 1,132 defendants. Disciplinary action has been taken against 15 Party organizations, nearly 80 cadres and civil servants of agencies with the function of preventing and combating corruption and negative acts, strictly implementing the policy of handling without forbidden areas and without exceptions.

The Provincial Steering Committee has directed the strengthening of inspection, supervision and audit work, and the improvement of coordination between functional agencies in detecting and handling corruption and negativity. Through inspection, supervision and audit, many Party organizations and Party members with corrupt, negative behaviors and degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle have been handled and recommended for disciplinary action; 286 cases with signs of crime have been transferred to the investigation agency for investigation and handling according to the provisions of law, an increase of nearly 3 times compared to the period one year before the establishment of the Provincial Steering Committee.

Attention has been paid to propaganda and education on preventing and combating corruption; the role of the Fatherland Front, the press and the people in preventing and combating corruption has been promoted by the Steering Committees. In particular, since the beginning of 2023, in addition to the National Conference chaired by the Central Internal Affairs Committee, 37/63 provinces and cities have organized the dissemination and dissemination of the content and core values ​​of the work "Resolutely and persistently fighting against corruption and negativity, contributing to building our Party and State increasingly clean and strong" by the General Secretary, Head of the Central Steering Committee, in the form of direct and online communication to the commune level. The dissemination of the content of the General Secretary's book has created a widespread political movement throughout the Party.

Although still new and inexperienced, the Steering Committees and Standing Committees of the provincial Steering Committees have basically strictly implemented the working regime and maintained order. Many places have done a good job of connecting the prosecution agencies; promptly detected difficulties and obstacles to proactively propose and advise on solutions. The activities of the provincial Steering Committees have gradually become orderly, truly a reliable support for functional agencies to confidently perform their tasks, and for cadres, party members and people to actively participate in the work of preventing and combating corruption.

Delegates attended the conference to review one year of operation of the Provincial Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption and Negativity.

The results of the Steering Committee's activities after one year have significantly contributed to creating increasingly clear changes in the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity in the locality, especially in detecting and handling corruption and negativity; gradually overcoming the previous situation of "hot above, cold below".

That affirms that the policy of establishing a provincial Steering Committee is correct, necessary, suitable to practical requirements, demonstrating the high determination of localities, the consensus and agreement from the Central to the local and grassroots levels, the consensus and support of cadres, party members and people in the spirit of the direction of the General Secretary, Head of the Central Steering Committee "Unanimity from top to bottom, clarity from top to bottom". The establishment of the provincial Steering Committee is also an important milestone that shows that the system of organizations, leadership and direction for preventing and combating corruption and negative acts in Vietnam has been further perfected.

At the conference, delegates focused on discussing, exchanging, providing professional and technical guidance, sharing experiences, and resolving difficulties and obstacles in the operation of the Provincial Steering Committee; identifying tasks and solutions to improve the operational efficiency of the Provincial Steering Committee, contributing to continuing to promote the work of preventing and combating corruption and negativity, and successfully implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress.

Accordingly, the Provincial Steering Committee needs to focus on directing and further promoting propaganda and education on preventing and combating corruption, especially the Party's viewpoints, policies and regulations on this work. The Provincial Steering Committee needs to synchronously carry out tasks and solutions to prevent and combat corruption, both prevention, detection and handling; synchronously implement the four goals of "cannot, dare not, do not want, do not need to be corrupt". Special attention should be paid to education and building a culture of integrity, no corruption and negativity.

Regarding the work of inspection, supervision, investigation, and settlement of complaints and denunciations, it is necessary to focus on areas prone to corruption and negativity, specialized areas, closed activities, and outstanding, pressing issues of public concern in the area. Along with that, the Provincial Steering Committee needs to focus on leading and directing the resolution of difficulties and obstacles to speed up the investigation and handling of corruption and negativity cases and incidents in the locality, especially cases and incidents that the Provincial Steering Committee monitors and directs and the Central Steering Committee assigns to provincial and municipal Party Committees to direct and handle. Strictly and synchronously handle Party discipline, administrative handling and criminal handling of corruption and negative acts according to the principle of "Proactive, urgent; handle clearly as to the extent; no forbidden areas; where there are signs of crime, it must be investigated and prosecuted and where there is a conclusion of guilt, it must be prosecuted and tried; handle strictly but humanely; have an objective, comprehensive, and historical perspective when considering handling violations...".

Along with that, the Provincial Steering Committee needs to direct and further promote the role and responsibility of the People's Council, the Vietnam Fatherland Front, socio-political organizations at all levels, the press and the people in the fight against corruption and negative practices. Urgently advise the Party Committee to have solutions to direct and quickly overcome the situation of cadres avoiding, shirking responsibility, being afraid of responsibility, not daring to do...  

News and photos: PHAM KIEN