Party chief calls on 16th National Assembly to conduct stronger, more substantive innovation

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Party General Secretary To Lam addresses the opening of the first session of the 16th National Assembly in Hanoi on April 6. (Photo: VNA)

Party General Secretary To Lam has called on the National Assembly (NA) to further innovate in a stronger, more substantive, and more effective manner to fully and worthily fulfil its constitutional responsibilities in the country’s development phase.

Addressing the opening of the first session of the 16th-tenure legislature in Hanoi on April 6, the Party chief underlined that the demands of new stage of development are placing higher, faster, and more pressing requirements on institutions, growth models, the quality of national governance, policy responsiveness, enforcement discipline, and the improvement of the people’s living standards.

The 14th National Party Congress has clearly defined development goals to 2030, with a vision to 2045, while emphasising the need to renew development mindset, unlock all resources, and maximise the strength of great national unity.

He stressed that the NA is where the will, aspirations, and mastery of the People are embodied; where major issues of the country are decided; and where the Party’s guidelines are transformed into laws, policies, and the strength of practical implementation. Each deputy must always be deeply aware that they not only represent their constituencies, nor merely carry the trust of voters, but also bear the responsibility for the nation’s destiny, for the People’s trust, and for the future of generations to come.

The leader proposed that the 16th NA focus on effectively carrying out four major tasks.

First, it is essential to strongly innovate legislative work, striving to build a modern, unified, stable, feasible, and development-oriented legal system.

The NA must further enhance its capacity to institutionalise and concretise the Party’s resolutions into policies and laws, thereby creating a solid legal framework for the successful implementation of socio-economic development tasks for the 2026–2031 period and beyond. The legal system must truly become the institutional foundation for development, a tool to protect human rights and citizens’ rights, and a driving force to promote innovation, unleash productive forces, and open up new development spaces for the country.

In recent times, although the legal system has been significantly improved, there remain overlap, inconsistency, and lack of coherence; some regulations are unclear, unstable, and not keeping pace with reality, thus increasing compliance costs, slowing development opportunities, and creating difficulties for people, businesses, and even enforcement agencies. Therefore, the National Assembly needs to direct a comprehensive review of the legal system, perfect the structure of the national legal framework, and resolutely address the situation of “restrictive laws,” overlaps, and buck-passing to sub-law documents. Laws must be designed in such a way that once promulgated, they can be effectively implemented in practice, easily understood by the people, easily complied with by businesses, and easily applied by state agencies.

In particular, it is essential to fundamentally renew the mindset of law-making toward a development-oriented approach. Laws should not only regulate what already exists, but also pave the way for what is new; not only adjust existing realities, but also shape the future. Laws must not only “open the way” but also “improve the road.” For emerging issues, new sectors, new models, and new productive forces, appropriate approaches are needed, with bold but controlled piloting to create space for innovation and enhance national competitiveness.

The legislative process must be truly scientific, democratic, and transparent, taking into account the voices of experts, scientists, international experiencea, businesses, and the people. Each law must originate from national and ethnic interests, as well as the legitimate interests of the people. It is necessary to resolutely prevent and combat group interests, sectional interests, and all negative influences that distort policies. There must be a strong shift from the mindset of “making laws for the sake of completion” to “making laws for development”; from “good laws on paper” to “good laws in practice.” The effectiveness of implementation and the satisfaction of the people and businesses must be the highest measures of legislative quality.

Second, it is necessary to elevate the NA’s supreme supervision towards substance, sharpness, and full accountability for both responsibility and results.

Supervision is a very important power of the National Assembly. However, supervision cannot stop at identifying limitations or pointing out shortcomings. It must truly become an instrument for enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of national governance; it must help correct what is amiss, improve what is done, remove bottlenecks, provide early warnings of risks, and promote action. In other words, supervision is not only to “review what has been done”, but also to help “shape what needs to be done”, to identify early any shortcomings that may arise, and to pursue to the end the ultimate question: has the issue been resolved or not.

General Secretary Lam suggested that this term focus its supervision on major issues, key sectors, and the “bottlenecks of bottlenecks” in development; on pressing matters of concern to voters and the people; in particular, the implementation of the Party's major guidelines, the enforcement of laws, the use of national resources, the management of public assets, the practice of thrift and the fight against wastefulness, and the accountability of State agencies. Each content must be associated with specific responsibilities, specific timelines, specific outputs, and specific results; the supervision must be based on data, evidence, quantitative indicators, and clear comparisons between set objectives and achieved outcomes.

At the same time, it is necessary to strongly promote the role of National Assembly organs, NA delegations, and each deputy in supervision activities; and to strengthen coordination between the National Assembly’s supervision and the Party’s inspection and supervision, as well as the State’s inspection, audit, and other control institutions, thereby creating a combined strength to ensure that the apparatus acts correctly, swiftly, and effectively.

Third, there is a need to enhance the mettle and vision in deciding on important national matters; decisions must be correct, well-targeted, timely, and for the long-term interests of the nation.

NA deputies at the first sitting of the 16th National Assembly in Hanoi on April 6. (Photo: VNA)

Entering a stage of development of historic significance, the country requires the National Assembly not only to make correct decisions, but to make the right decisions at the right time; since a delayed decision may mean missing a strategic opportunity. Issues relating to socio-economic development, the State budget, public investment, national target programmes, and nationally significant projects… are all major decisions, closely tied to the fundamental and long-term interests of the nation and the people, and must be considered comprehensively, scientifically, and prudently, but must under no circumstances allow delay to become a bottleneck to development.

Under conditions of still limited resources, the NA must further improve the quality of policy analysis, strategic forecasting capacity, and impact assessment; must select the right major tasks, the right breakthroughs, the right key projects, and the right priority sectors on which to concentrate resources; and avoid dispersion, fragmentation, and equal distribution. Investment must not only serve immediate growth, but must also create new drivers of growth, new competitive capacity, and new development space for the country over decades to come.

Each decision of the NA must be placed within the overall national development strategy, in the context of rapidly changing international conditions, and in the requirement to ensure independence, self-reliance, security, safety, and sustainable development. The National Assembly decides for the present, but must be accountable to the future. That is political resolve, strategic vision, legislative intellect, and the depth of the highest organ of State power.

Fourth, it is important to continue renewing the organisation and mode of operation of the NA towards modernity, professionalism, closeness to the people, practical relevance, and more rapid policy responsiveness.

In a constantly changing world, the NA cannot operate at the old pace, by old methods. It must possess greater adaptability, more timely policy responses, and faster decision-making, while still ensuring rigour and correctness. It is necessary to continue studying the reasonable increase in the number of sessions, and to diversify and flexibilise the forms of operation of the NA and its organs, especially through the strong application of digital technology, online modalities, and digital ecosystems, in order to enhance timeliness, proactiveness, and effectiveness in the consideration and decision of policies.

It is a must to further improve the quality and effectiveness of the activities of each NA deputy, especially full-time lawmakers; to consolidate and further promote the role of National Assembly delegations so that they truly serve as a close bridge between the NA and voters and the people; to ensure that each deputy possesses political mettle, professional competence, critical capacity, and the ability to faithfully convey the voice of the people to the parliamentary platform.

The NA must be more closely connected with the people; expand channels for receiving and listening to the opinions of voters, the public, the business community, intellectuals, and scientists; enhance openness and transparency in all its activities; and build a digital, modern, and intelligent legislature, but above all, one that is close to the people, understands the people, serves the people, and acts in their interests. When the will of the people is heard, when their views are faithfully reflected, and when decisions originate from practical realities, the NA will be stronger, the State will be more stable, and public trust will be greater, stated the leader.

The Party chief expressed his confidence that each NA deputy will continuously cultivate political mettle, enhance their qualifications, capacity, and sense of responsibility; truly remain close to, understand, listen to, and faithfully reflect the will and aspirations of the people; and place national and ethnic interests above all else and first and foremost in every decision. These are the core qualities of a people’s representative in the new era.

"Standing before a new historic opportunity for the nation, we have every basis for profound confidence that, with the glorious 80-year tradition of the Vietnamese National Assembly; under the Party’s steadfast and wise leadership; with the unity and support of the people; with the close coordination of the Government and the entire political system; and with the democratic spirit, creativity, enthusiasm, and responsibility of all National Assembly deputies, the 16th National Assembly will certainly fulfil excellently the responsibilities entrusted by the Party, the State, and the people, contributing together with the entire Party, people, and army to realise the aspiration of building a peaceful, independent, democratic, strong, prosperous, civilised, and happy Vietnam, firmly advancing towards socialism," he affirmed./.

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