Minister of Internal Affairs Lê Vĩnh Tân talks to Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper about Party and State policies to attract and utilise talents in the public sector.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has been assigned to set up a national strategy to attract and utilise local talents, while the Government has approved policies to attract top graduates and young scientists. How have these policies been implemented?

The Ministry of Internal Affairs has asked related agencies to implement Decree 140 and set up plans to draw excellent graduates and young scientists who meet the criteria to work at State agencies. This process must ensure openness, transparency and competitiveness following the requirements of the Politburo.

A number of ministries and State agencies at central and local levels have recruited excellent graduates and young scientists such as the Central Organisation Commission, Ministry of Finance and people’s committees in Bạc Liêu, Quảng Trị, Quảng Ngãi provinces.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs will follow and report the policy implementation’s progress to authorised agencies.

Localities have been given instructions on how to implement the policy, but progress has been slow. Why?

Attracting talents and creating favourable conditions for them to grow is very important.

However, a number of ministries, sectors and localities seem to lack the determination to implement these policies to create conditions for talented people to demonstrate their abilities.

Over the years, we have inspected personnel development at most ministries, sectors and localities and found no cases of people being appointed to positions in the Government and Party by illicit means.

Developing a contingent of officials at a strategic level as stated in Decree No 26-NQ/TW needs a series of strict processes. I think it would be very difficult to find a loophole to get a job by illicit means.

What positions need to be focused on to attract people to the public sector in order to make the best use of their talents?

According to the Government, we need mechanisms and policies to discover, attract and foster talents focusing on spearhead sectors to serve rapid and sustainable development. They include the economy, politics, socio-culture and science-technology.

Building mechanisms for sustainable development and developing a high-quality workforce are the two focuses.

Natural resources are limited but effective mechanisms and a quality workforce have endless potential.

Experience from developed countries including our neighbours like South Korea, Japan and Singapore show that priorities must be granted to sound mechanisms and quality human resources.

We must draw experience from developed countries in order to foster human resources, finance and science-technology to meet the sustainable growth demand of our country.

Criteria to attract talents are needed, but there are no detailed documents regulating this area. What solutions will the Ministry of Internal Affairs propose to address this shortcoming?

It is very difficult to assess people so it is not easy to form official criteria to define talented workers.

The Government has ordered State agencies to focus on three policies: discovering talents, attracting talents making use of them in spearhead sectors for rapid and sustainable development.

The current shortcomings also hinder the attraction and making use of talents. Policy enforcement will be the solution to address these drawbacks. VNS