“It is necessary to harmonise three pillars: State - society - market,” Mr Le Xuan Ba, Director of the Central Institute for Economic Management, said to reporter Anh Phuong on the sidelines of a seminar titled “Continued Strengthening of Government Apparatus Capacity” held in Hanoi on April 29.
In institutional reform, building up the capacity of the Government apparatus is an urgent task while Vietnam is in the important stage of transitioning into the market economy model. This process has intensive and extensive spill-over effects with direct impact on the entire macro economy at all levels, from central to grassroots, particularly the market and the business community - a dynamic force considered a responsive and accurate "thermometer" of economic management policies adopted by State executive bodies.
How, in your opinion, is the "health" of the Vietnamese Government apparatus at present?
For some time, the Government of Vietnam’s ironclad macroeconomic management policies have demonstrated its determination to bring policies and guidelines into life, support business operations of companies operating in different industries, and align working styles of State agencies. Specifically, the Government is resolute to control operations of sensitive business fields which may cause huge impacts on the economy. Most recently, it has embraced a policy to limit gold bar trading and gradually ban the trading of the precious metal. The State will centrally manage transactions of this commodity and if non-State units want to join this market, they must have unyielding commitments to the State in terms of business conditions, capital and other conditions. Besides, it deeply intervenes in the stock, finance and real estate markets to bubbles or price-driving by groups of individual investors. The most recent are measures to regulate prices of essential goods like electricity, coal and petroleum. The Government is determined to undertake major policy mechanisms and reforms, but it is important that such mechanisms and policies must come to life and affect the life of every enterprise and person.
In fact, sometimes, the market deviates from predefined guidelines and policies. And, at that time, it is impossible to affirm that the health of competent State organs is good enough.
The phrase “publicity and transparency” is always stated in institutional changes in many countries in the world. How is it in Vietnam?
Currently, it must be admitted that the administration apparatus in Vietnam has been supplemented, consolidated and upgraded drastically in many levels and many sectors. Publicity is fully applied at all public organs. Information provided for communication agencies and mass media is better than before. However, there is the fact that Vietnam is only good at publicity. In plain words, information has reached the public in literal meaning. But, the information about how policies work and who is responsible for them is not always made clear. Once again, the criterion of transparency is stated. Overlapping, plurality and incompetency are persistent realities at State organs. Take State management over minerals as an example: three ministries, namely the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, exercise State power over this field. The Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for setting up mining plans; the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment is in charge of managing licensing, and the Ministry of Construction is liable for managing construction materials and setting up mineral plans. Clearly, overlapping functions and responsibilities among ministries lead to ineffective management. Currently, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is answerable for administering functional foods while, according to many experts, this power should be assigned to the Ministry of Health.
Do you think the decentralisation of administrative apparatus in Vietnam is really effective?
In my opinion, this matter directly impinges on production and business activities, as well as the operation of the administrative apparatus. In fact, the decentralisation of administrative apparatus in Vietnam is just limited to empowering administrative apparatus of lower levels, but inspective and supervisory tasks are not properly completed. Even the empowerment of lower-level apparatus is not complete. For example, the district level is authorised to manage all junior high schools, but it cannot manage projects valued from VND3 billion to VND5 billion or more. Teachers at junior high schools are recruited by provincial education authorities, not district authorities. While district authorities handle all daily works but cannot decide important matters like finance and personnel, the effectiveness of the education system is low.
The effort to improve Government capability and operations of the administrative apparatus needs a long-term roadmap. Vietnam should take into account the harmony of three key pillars: State - society - market. The State will do whatever the society cannot and the higher authority will do whatever the lower cannot. Then, responsibilities will be clear and overlapping will be avoided, thus strengthening the capacity of the country's administrative apparatus.
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