Intellectuals contribute to the country's political system

Prof. Dr. Dang Vu Minh, Honorary President of VUSTA delivered a speech at the workshop

Concerns of the Party and State

VUSTA was established in 1983 (Decision No. 121/HDBT dated July 29, 1983 of the Council of Ministers - currently known as the Government). 40 years into establishment and development (1983-2013), VUSTA has developed a system nationwide (02 levels: at the central and municipal levels with 63 provincial Unions of Associations, 93 Industry Associations, nearly 600 affiliated Scientific & Technological organizations, and 52 local Unions of Associations establishing the Party Committees). At each stage of development, VUSTA has received concerns of the Party and State with tasks associated with each period of construction and development of the country in general and intellectuals in particular.

On April 16, 2010, the Politburo issued Directive No. 42-CT/TW on continuing to innovate and improve the quality and operational efficiency of VUSTA in the period of accelerating the country’s industrialization and modernization. The Politburo affirmed that VUSTA is a socio-political organization with a system from the central to the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government, led by the Communist Party of Vietnam. Developing VUSTA is the responsibility of the Party and State. This is the highest level document of the Party as a premise to concretize the functions and tasks of VUSTA.

Accordingly, in 2015, the Prime Minister approved the Charter of VUSTA (issued together with Decision No. 1795/QD-TTg dated October 21, 2015), which stipulates: “The Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations is a socio-political organization of Vietnamese scientific and technological intellectuals", "The Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations has its system from the central to the provinces, centrally-governed cities”.

After 10 years of implementing the Directive No. 42-CT/TW, VUSTA was assessed by the Party Secretariat to have achieved important results; the organizational system has been gradually improved and consolidated; geographical areas, the scope of activities is increasingly expanding. These results serve as an important basis for the Party Secretariat to issue the Conclusion No. 93-KL/TW dated November 20, 2020 on continuing to implement the Directive No. 42-CT/TW, which is an important legal basis for the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations to continue to consolidate and develop the organizational structure, perform the tasks assigned by the Party and State.

Over the past 40 years, the Party and State have entrusted VUSTA with tasks associated with each period of national construction and development. The overall task is gathering and uniting a team of Vietnamese Scientific & Technological intellectuals at home and abroad; Proposing and advising the Party and State on major issues on national development guidelines and policies; Providing advice, questioning and social assessment in the process of formulating guidelines and policies of the Party and State; Major development programs and projects; Disseminating scientific and technological knowledge; Scientific research and technology development; Transferring scientific and technological advances in production, life and environmental protection.

Scene of the workshop

The Union's responsibilities to the Party and State

“How to gather?” and "What tasks are assigned to help VUSTA at the central and local levels to gather a large number of intellectuals in localities to contribute to socio-economic development?". These are topics to be raised and discussed at the workshop.

According to Dr. Nguyen Danh, Chairman of Gia Lai Provincial Union of Science and Technology Associations, the outstanding point of the Union of Associations with the Party and State and assigned tasks by the Party and State is: Reviewing the Party's policies in the province related to intellectuals and fields of Science, Technology, Education and Training (as assigned by the Provincial Party Committee); or organizing scientific research on historical topics of Party committees of branches and localities in the province as well as other fields related to scientific and technological intellectuals; Organizing seminars to provide scientific arguments for socio-economic development in localities (assigned by the Provincial and District Party Committees).

According to Dr. Tran Manh Duong, Chairman of the Dak Nong Provincial Union of Science and Technology Associations, the most obvious thing about the operation of the Union of Associations is currently tasked by the Party and the State: the Technical Innovation Contest (held every 2 years); Youth, Teenagers-Children's Creativity Contest (held once a year) and social consultancy and evaluation. MSc. Tran Manh Duong also shared: "It is recommended that the Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations should register with the Party and State, and assign more tasks to the Union to launch the: Innovation movement (mentioned in the 13th Party Congress). Especially about the personnel of the Union of Associations: "It's been nearly 40 years since its establishment from June 1983 to June 2023, but the local Union of Associations still have difficulties and the implementation is different in each location".

At the conference, Prof. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Tuyen, Director of the Institute of Economics and Management of the Central Highlands (Department of Science and Technology of Dak Lak province) compared: "The Union is still facing difficulties because there are lots of children but the money is little"; still putting the emphasis on the form of "ask-give"... in order to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Party and the State, should the Central Union of Associations socialize the  training of a contingent of young officers specialized in the Union of Associations?

Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa, Chairman of Phu Yen Provincial Union of Science and Technology Associations, reported at the workshop: “In most of the major topics and projects of the province, Phu Yen Provincial Union of Science and Technology Associations were invited by the provincial leaders to act as reviewers; At the same time, the budget for independent reviewers is not limited, the budget is distributed as much as the number of reviewers - This is also the concern of the Party and State in assigning tasks to Phu Yen Provincial Union of Science and Technology Associations”.

Regarding the local unit (Dak Lak Provincial Union of Science and Technology Associations), Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thao, Vice Chairman of Dak Lak Provincial Union of Science and Technology Associations, commented that: Dak Lak has 15,275 intellectuals (with qualification of college or higher), among them, there are more than 100 doctorates in various specialties. In the past time, it has contributed to the development of science and technology of the province in general and the development of the Union of Associations in particular - especially, with the current attention of the Party and State: the People's Committee of Dak Lak province directed the specialized departments to advise the Provincial People's Committee to arrange funding for the construction of a new headquarters for the Union of Associations (the project is being appraised for the period of 2022-2024).

Concluding the conference, Prof. Dr. Dang Vu Minh, Honorary President of VUSTA, assessed: The responsibility of intellectuals in war, peace time and even the 4.0 technology era is still respected by the Party and State. The dynamism of the local Union of Associations and "no-choosy" attitude have devoted to science and technology. Especially with the attention and facilitation of the Party Committee in line with the spirit of the Directive No. 42 of the Party VUSTA will continue to work with Ministries, Sectors and Government to issue preferential policies for intellectuals./.