Communist Party of Vietnam’s Secretariat warns against signing impractical international commitments

The guidance is set out in Directive No. 56-CT/TW, signed on December 24 by Tran Cam Tu, Politburo member and permanent member of the Central Secretariat.

The directive noted that the work of signing and implementing international commitments in recent years has revealed a number of shortcomings and limitations.

Against the backdrop of rapidly evolving and increasingly complex global and regional developments, which present intertwined challenges and opportunities, the Secretariat stressed the need to enhance both the quality and effectiveness of these commitments.

The directive cautioned against a mindset that prioritizes quantity over quality or emphasizes form over substance, clearly stating that international commitments that are impractical or unfeasible must not be signed.

The Secretariat called on Party committees at all levels, Party organizations, officials, and Party members to raise awareness of the importance of signing and effectively implementing international commitments for Vietnam's development, standing, and credibility.

Party committees are instructed to oversee the resolution of outstanding obstacles and emerging problems, or to propose solutions to competent authorities to ensure these issues are addressed promptly and thoroughly.

The directive called for stronger guidance, inspection, supervision, and oversight of activities related to the signing and implementation of international commitments, while ensuring strict compliance with the Party’s guidelines and regulations, as well as state policies and laws.

It also emphasized the need to resolutely combat and refute false or distorted narratives spread by hostile and reactionary forces regarding the signing and implementation of international commitments.

At the same time, measures must be taken to prevent and stop schemes or activities that exploit international commitments to undermine national security, social order, or unity, or to sabotage the Party’s and state's guidelines and policies.

Party committees are tasked with reviewing and refining Party regulations and state laws, as well as improving procedures to facilitate the signing and implementation of international commitments.

The directive also called for strengthened state management, greater decentralization and delegation of authority, and streamlined administrative procedures to remove institutional bottlenecks in this area.

Party committees and organizations are required to establish mechanisms to collect feedback on difficulties and obstacles faced by subjects that benefit from or are affected by international commitments, including businesses, citizens, experts, scholars, and social organizations.

The Secretariat emphasized the need to enhance the accountability and proactiveness of lead agencies in developing concrete plans and roadmaps for negotiating, signing, and implementing international commitments, especially in high-level external affairs, to achieve substantive and tangible improvements.

International commitments should be translated into action programs and work plans for ministries, sectors, and localities, based on statements and agreed exchanges between key leaders and foreign partners.

Ministries, sectors, and localities are urged to proactively review existing international commitments within their mandates, assess achievements, shortcomings, limitations, and underlying causes, and identify solutions to improve implementation effectiveness.

They are also instructed to strengthen research and strategic forecasting on major global and regional trends, and to detect, prevent, and address emerging issues, obstacles, and complaints related to the implementation of international commitments at an early stage.

The Secretariat further stressed the importance of training and developing teams of experts and officials with strong political resolve, sound ethics, solid professional capacity, and in-depth expertise in international law, international economics, international relations, and specialized fields.

The directive called for mobilizing the appropriate participation of experts and scientists in research, advisory, and proposal processes related to the signing and implementation of complex international commitments with wide-ranging and cross-sectoral impacts.

It highlighted the importance of selecting and actively participating in international organizations and law-making forums, particularly in areas such as the economy, trade, environment, science, technology, innovation, digital transformation, and cyberspace.

Such participation, the directive noted, is intended to ensure timely updates on new international regulations and standards while selectively absorbing best practices suited to Vietnam’s specific conditions.