>>> Re-elected President Tran Dai Quang sworn in
Q: Congratulations President on your new appointment. Could you please outline the situation and core tasks that the entire Party, people and armed forces will be implementing in the near future?
A: First of all, I would like to give my sincere thanks to the press for their congratulations. I would also like to thank the people and voters who have elected me as a NA deputy, as well as thank the NA and NA deputies for electing me to continue to be the President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
The situation in recent years has confirmed that rulings outlined in documents delivered at the 12th National Party Congress are correct. In addition to opportunities and advantages, currently the global and regional situation has witnessed a range of complex developments along with a number of potential unpredictable destabilising factors and uncertainties. Local wars, armed conflicts, natural resource and territorial sovereignty disputes, ethnic and religious conflicts, interventions, subversion, secession, and international acts of terrorism continue to rise with increasingly serious nature and extent.
Hostile forces aggressively promote "peaceful evolution” activities and disturb the peace with various actions aimed at overthrowing the leadership of the Party and the socialist regime in the country. Meanwhile, national socio-economic development faces a range of challenges; GDP growth rate in the first six months of this year was at a lower level than that of the previous year; salt water salinisation, droughts, environmental pollution are occurring in many localities, adversely affecting agriculture, forestry and fisheries and the lives of people.
Amidst the above situation, the entire Party, people and armed forces have united and strived to successfully implement six focal tasks set in the 12th National Party Congress’s Resolution, in which socio-economic development is considered as a central task and Party building as a key mission.
Other tasks include developing Vietnamese culture and the people, strengthening national defence and security, implementing strategic breakthroughs in tandem with reforming the growth model, streamlining administrative procedures and improving people’s spiritual and material lives, especially those residing in remote, far-flung, border and island areas, and those in disadvantaged localities, and social policy beneficiaries.
It is necessary to focus on building a clean and strong Party and the political system; promoting the strength of the great national unity bloc and socialist democracy; promoting a comprehensive and synchronous Doi Moi (renovation) process; firmly safeguarding independence, sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity of the country and national interests and security; and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for the country's rapid and sustainable development.
Q: As the risk of non-traditional security threats, especially cyber war, migration, water security, energy security, food security, environmental pollution, and climate change, continue to increase, could you point out what should be done to effectively deal with the threats?
A: Non-traditional security risks have close ties with traditional security threats, directly threatening national interests and security. Thus, to be "ready to respond to non-traditional and traditional security threats and ensure information and network security", as indicated in the documents reviewed at the 12th National Party Congress, it is important to promote the synergy of the whole political system and the whole nation in actively using synchronous political, diplomatic, economic, scientific and technological measures to step up communication work to raise awareness and create changes in perception and actions of the Party committees, governments, unions and the strata on responsibility to prevent and fight against threats of non-traditional security.
In addition, more attention should be paid to build and complete the legal system, raise the effectiveness and efficiency of State management, and ensure uniformity, consistency and well-defined assignment of responsibilities in deploying tasks related to information security, network security, food security, water security, environmental protection, and effective response to climate change; as well as focusing on effectively building and implementing strategies, schemes and projects in response to the risk of non-traditional security threats, particularly in the strategic areas of national defence and security, areas with prevalence of natural disasters, storms, floods, droughts, and saltwater intrusion; and attaching importance to human resources training, building specialised task forces, and strengthening international co-operation to exchange information and share experiences on dealing with the risk of non-traditional security.
Q: The fight against corruption and thrift has achieved certain results over the past time, contributing to national socio-economic development and maintenance of political security and social order. However, corruption and thrift is still widely prevalent, creating a large threat to the survival of the Vietnamese Party and regime. As head of the Central Steering Committee for Judicial Reform, what do you think about the issue?
A: Preventing and fighting corruption and waste is an important, urgent and long-term task of extreme difficulty and complexity. To enhance the efficiency of the work, timely detection, investigation and handling of offences plays a decisive role. Officials and Party members, particularly leading cadres, must set bright examples in morality, lifestyle and resolutely struggle against corruption and waste.
It is important to mobilise the combined power of the entire political system and the entire population in combating corruption and wastefulness, with authorised agencies exercising a key advisory role; and intensify propagation and education to raise the awareness and sense of responsibility of Party members, cadres, public servants and people about the work of corruption and waste prevention and fighting, thus creating a high consensus and determination in their actions.
Focus should be on building and completing mechanisms, policies and laws, and fixing loopholes and shortcomings in socio-economic management, particularly in the areas susceptible to corruption and thrift.
Preventive measures and deterrence and punishment mechanisms also need to be constructed to prevent corruption. Continuous efforts should be made in renovating judicial and administrative procedures, building upright and transparent justice agencies, and boosting moral and capacity training for officials and public servants working in the justice sector.
Q: The world and regional situation is witnessing many complicated developments, posing numerous challenges to the task of maintaining national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and ensuring national defence, security and social order. As chairman of the National Defence and Security Council, could you specify some measures to enhance the quality and operational efficiency of the Council in order to meet the requirement of protecting the motherland in the new context?
A: Article 89 of the 2013 Constitution has stipulated the organisation and operation of the National Defence and Security Council. To strengthen the quality and operational efficiency of the council, it is necessary to clarify its operational principles. The council must comply with the Party’s leadership and direction; strictly observe the National Assembly’s resolutions on national defence and security; and work closely with the NA, government, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organisations to fully exercise its rights and duties as regulated by the Constitution and the law.
The council also needs to continue institutionalising the credo for national construction in the transition to socialism (supplemented and developed in 2011) and concretising the regulations of the 2013 Constitution, thus actively contributing to successfully fulfilling the Party’s guidelines and policies and the State’s law on national defence and security.
Furthermore, the council should pay attention to strengthening the potential of national defence and security as well as the willingness to resolutely and persistently fight for national independence, reunification, sovereignty and territorial integrity; protect the Party, State, people and socialism; and maintain a peaceful and stable environment for sustainable national development.
Q: As the leader of the Vietnamese State, who represents the country in both home and foreign affairs, what are your major activities in the field of foreign affairs in the coming time?
A: It is the Vietnamese Party and State’s consistent policy to safeguard the optimal interests of the country on the basis of respecting international law, equality and mutual benefit; be proactive in international integration; maintain a peaceful environment; and create favourable conditions for national development.
In the coming time, the State President and Vice President will actively implement foreign affairs work, contributing to effectively exercising the country’s foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, co-operation and development. We will also multilateralise and diversify relationships and proactively accelerate international integration and co-operation in the spirit of respecting each other’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, not interfering with each other’s internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit.
The State leaders will work to deepen Vietnam’s relations with neighbouring countries, those in the region and world powers; strengthen the country’s ties with traditional friends and expand its relationship with potential partners; and take advantage of support offered by the international community as well as resources from the outside.
Another key activity will be closely combining the Party’s foreign affairs with the State diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy, political diplomacy with economic and cultural diplomacy, foreign affairs with national defence and security, aiming to enhance the position and prestige of Vietnam in the international arena and contribute to successfully implementing the task of ensuring the country’s socio-economic development, national defence, security and international integration.
Thank you very much!
