HA NOI — Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung emphasised the need to improve the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of People's Councils and People's Committees in the near future.
The Prime Minister made the statement at a national conference held on Saturday to review and discuss the operation of these councils and committees during the 2004-2011 term.
He said the country would soon implement the 2011-2015 socio-economic development plan and the 2011-2020 strategy, which would see many opportunities and challenges.
Dung stressed the role and duty of local governments at different levels in implementing Party and Government policies.
"It is necessary to promote collective strength and the strength of people in each locality for the rapid and sustainable development of the country," the Prime Minister told conference participants.
He asked participants to frankly assess the achievements and failures of People's Councils and People's Committees during the 2004-2011 term.
Dung requested the councils and committees to pay proper attention to reorganising their organisations, boosting the capabilities of their speciality offices and drawing on experiences to increase efficiency in the time to come.
The Prime Minister also praised them for their achievements during the 2004-2011 term.
Head of the National Assembly Deputies Affairs Board Pham Minh Tuyen said People's Councils nation-wide had completed their duties according to the law in recent years.
Democracy had been extended to people from all walks of life and in different aspects of life, Tuyen said.
As a result, People's Councils were consolidated and promoted as representative offices of the people and authoritative State offices in cities and provinces, he added.
Yet, Tuyen said elsewhere the operation of People's Councils remained weak. Some had failed to effectively play their supervisory roles. He attributed the failures, in part, to special treatment of violators that had special relationships with the councils.
Conference participants also discussed shortcomings in the pilot project to cease operation of People's Councils at the district and ward levels in 10 cities and provinces.
National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong said that before deciding to implement the programme on a large scale, it was essential to consider the advantages and disadvantages, choose an optimal measure and reach high consensus.
He asked cities and provinces to continue organising meetings of People's Councils at different levels till the end of the term and to speed up supervision of administrative offices. — VNS
