Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm speaks at the session to review a blueprint for social governance in the new era on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Party General Secretary and State President Tô Lâm warned on Wednesday that Việt Nam cannot afford to allow economic growth to come at the expense of culture, ethics and human values, as he chaired a high-level session reviewing a sweeping blueprint for social governance in the new era.

The session brought together the Central Public Security Party Committee and other relevant agencies.

A committee representative briefed attendees on the blueprint, formally titled Building an Orderly, Disciplined, Safe, Civilised, Harmonious and Developed Society, after which participants held detailed discussions.

In his closing remarks, the Party chief said the resolution title should be concise and closely aligned with the directives of the Party’s 14th National Congress, which set out Việt Nam’s development agenda for the coming decade.

On substance, he articulated a vision that seeks to absorb the best of global civilisation, including advances in science and technology and modern governance methods, while safeguarding national sovereignty, cultural identity and its socialist orientation.

Faster development, he stressed, must be paired with genuine improvements in quality of life. Growth that sacrifices social stability, equity or the environment is not a trade-off the country is willing to accept.

The resolution, as the top leader framed it, places people at the centre, culture as the foundation and law and discipline as the pillars of a socialist civilised society.

Central to the effort is cultivating what he called a Vietnamese person in the new era, one equipped with ideals, civic consciousness, moral character and the skills to thrive in a modern society.

He called for virtue-based and law-based governance to reinforce each other, with education and persuasion working alongside discipline and legal accountability.

The top leader also identified modernising social governance as a strategic breakthrough, arguing that the faster the country develops, the more capable its governance must become. He called for a fundamental shift in mindset away from managing society and towards governing and actively shaping it.

On the drafting process, he directed that the resolution’s objectives and indicators be streamlined around metrics that directly reflect social quality, governance effectiveness, public safety, civic trust and people’s well-being.

Drafters were also instructed to cross-check the document against existing Party resolutions and directives to eliminate redundancy and internal contradictions.

The resolution, the top leader emphasised, should be an integrative document that defines the model of Vietnamese society for decades ahead and sets shared standards for the entire political system to work towards.

It must be drafted, he said, with fresh thinking, long-range vision and solutions grounded enough for implementation. The ultimate aim is to lay the social foundation for delivering on the 14th Congress agenda and realising Việt Nam’s two centenary goals in the centenary of its independence. — VNS