Peaceful, stable environment key to development
HA NOI — A guaranteed peaceful, stable environment that fosters socialist-oriented socio-economic development is the best way to benefit the nation, says Viet Nam Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh.
The General Secretary, who was summing up at the Central Committee’s 8th plenum that ended in Ha Noi last week, said safeguarding the nation could not be simply defined as protection.
It went beyond that to nurturing construction and development as well as what was beneficial to the people and the country. It also meant pursuing national independence and socialism.
Safeguarding the nation was: "Firmly defending the country’s independence, sovereignty, unification, territorial integrity, security, social order, culture; and the Party, the State, the people, the socialist regime, renovation and the national interest," he said.
"Strong and stable socio-economic development, together with successes in industrialisation and modernisation, would become the foundation for a secure political system and security."
"And a stable political system together with security were vital to developing the economy."
The plenum ended with the issuing of a statement dealing with national defence strategy in the new stage of economic development.
The statement says that Viet Nam should work for an international environment favourable to its construction and defence in addition to maintaining national sovereignty, unification and territorial integrity.
Strengthening the Party would be a key task in this effort.
Much emphasis would be given to protecting the country’s internal political security, unity and the Party’s supreme leadership in all aspects of national defence, it says.
Making the Party, the State and the entire political system transparent, strong and closely linked with the people is crucial to these tasks. The statement says national industrialisation and modernisation; improving the standard of living and social equality as well as building an independent self-reliant economy was another of the Party’s import tasks.
It is also important to promote national unity, extend democracy, strengthen order and discipline, translate the Party’s policies for minorities and religions into reality and raise the role of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front and mass organisations in the cause of national defence.
Strengthening national defence and maintaining territorial integrity are key tasks for the Party, the people and the army, it says.
The statement seeks a further expansion of international co-operation in the spirit of "Viet Nam wishing to be a friend and a trusty partner of other nations while striving for peace, independence and development."
Salary reform
The plenum also discussed salary reform for State employees, social insurance and priority social welfare for people who have served the nation.
It found that salary adjustment should be based on productivity, national income and economic development.
The salary policy must accord with a market economy oriented towards socialism so as to help create a healthy labour market and draw high-quality skilled workers into important areas of the State and the society.
Salary reform policy must be implemented step by step and together with reforms of the administration, financial system and wage payments in non-productive units.
The reform must also gradually separate salary policy from social insurance policy and adjust the policy for allowances to those who have served the nation.
The plenum also found: "The reform of policies for salaries, social insurance and the allowance for those who have served the nation should attain the following basic goals:"
Eliminate subsidies; Foster the spirit of equality;Improve the principle of distribution in accordance with contributions and the production and business operations of each agency, unit and enterprise; Distinguish between the salary payment for workers in profitable administrative services and those in the non-productive by accelerating the socialisation of non-productive operations and allowing financial and employment autonomy to non-productive units; Make increasing low and average salaries important while encouraging officials, public servants and employees to improve their skills, productivity and work quality; Implement a transparent income policy; Supervise and institutionalise legal incomes besides salaries; Identify and remove all illegal and irrational incomes so as to make salary the main source of income, thus ensuring a living for officials, public employees and wage earners; Implement a social insurance policy in accordance with the premiums paid the insurer so as to ensure the secured development of the social insurance fund; Give priority to settling several irrationalities in pensions for those who retired before September 1985 and April 1993; Develop social insurance by adding more groups of people who can buy social insurance and implement compulsory social insurance, voluntary social insurance and unemployment insurance; Write a Social Insurance Law as soon as possible; Adjust allowances to ensure that those who served the country can enjoy the average living standard.
General Secretary Nong Duc Manh said of the planned salary reform: "The Party has reiterated that – in the renewal process and based on the assessment of work and creativity – making the right payment to officials, State employees and workers is an investment in development that will create momentum for economic growth while raising the effectiveness of State management and the quality of the workforce in the non-productive sector." — VNS
