Party General Secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng (second from left) chairs the year's first Politburo meeting in Hà Nội on Thursday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Party General Secretary and State President Nguyễn Phú Trọng on Thursday urged immediate implementation of the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress concluded earlier this month.

“We have to immediately start work, not to be too indulgent in Tết festivities. The objectives and orientations stated in the 13th National Party Congress must be implemented, from holding study sessions, to building action plans, all levels of the administration and all agencies must be involved in the process,” Trọng said at the first meeting of the newly elected 13th-tenure Party Central Committee’s Politburo and Secretariat.

“As I have said, the success of congress is only one step, in which major orientations are outlined. Now it’s time for these orientations to be concretised, detailed, and institutionalised, and not just left on paper,” Trọng noted.

After the Tết holiday, all sectors and agencies must start work on political missions they have been charged with, conducting foreign affairs well, upholding the national sovereignty and territorial integrity, ensuring political security and social order and a peaceful life for all people in all circumstances.

The Party leader also ordered good preparations for the election of the 15th National Assembly at both central and local levels slated for late May this year.

Party leader Trọng stressed the importance of officials’ leading by example in practicing thrift, combating waste and preventing corruption.

The Politburo and the Secretariat welcomed efforts of State and Party agencies in providing support to ensure a warm Tết holiday for people, especially those in remote, mountainous, border, and island regions, those spending the holiday in quarantine facilities, frontline workers, labourers who didn’t return home for the holiday, and other disadvantaged groups.

The Politburo and the Secretariat asked Party Committees at all levels to focus on leadership and direction and offer all possible support to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, considering it a task of top priority, while making sure that socio-economic activities are not too disrupted.

Also at the meeting, the Politburo and the Secretariat agreed in principle with a proposal on purchasing COVID-19 vaccines, with the costs of purchases, transport, storage, and administration mostly sourced from the State budget in addition to other legal sources of finance.

The purchase of the vaccines is subject to legal regulations on purchase in emergency situations, and the use should follow World Health Organisation and manufacturers’ recommendations.

The Government is tasked with expediting efforts on locally made COVID-19 vaccines that meet international standards and can respond to new variants of the coronavirus. — VNS