📝OP-ED: Party Central Committee’s 4th plenum offers new thinking encouraging Party members to engage in business

Hanoi (VNA) – Party members are now encouraged to pursue legitimate wealth creation and contribute to national development, according to the new regulation, adopted at the fourth plenum of the 14th Party Central Committee, held in Hanoi from October 5 to 8.

The new regulation on Party members’ participation in investment and business activities replaces Regulation No. 15-QD/TW dated August 28, 2006, on Party members’ engagement in the private economy.

Accordingly, the plenum reached a consensus on several key principles, including shifting from a mindset of “permission” to one of “encouragement and facilitation” for Party members engaging in the private sector; protecting their lawful economic activities; and maintaining strict oversight of those exercising control and benefiting from such activities.

The regulation stipulates that Party members’ rights and eligibility to engage in investment and business activities must be consistent with their legal status and official responsibilities. At the same time, safeguards must be put in place to control potential conflicts of interest and prevent public power, information or assets from being used to secure private advantages.

All support policies must be based on public, transparent and equitable criteria, ensuring non-discriminatory treatment of businesses regardless of whether their owners are Party members.

The shift in thinking from “permission” to “encouragement and facilitation” for Party members to build legitimate wealth marks a highly significant turning point.

This shift will help unlock resources and link Party members’ pioneering spirit with economic development, contributing to the growth of the non-State economic sector. Encouraging Party members to engage in business will create fresh momentum for achieving and surpassing the set socio-economic development targets.

The approaches of “permitting” and “encouraging” Party members to engage in economic activities differ in several important respects.

The “permission-based” approach is essentially passive, viewing business as a citizen’s right while allowing Party members to exercise it only under certain conditions. By contrast, the “encouragement-based” approach is proactive and enabling, recognising business activities and legitimate wealth creation as patriotic acts and part of Party members’ pioneering responsibility.

Under the “permission-based” approach, those concerned tend to be hesitant and cautious, with Party members engaging in business while worrying that their integrity and motives may be questioned. The “encouragement-based” approach, meanwhile, gives them greater confidence to mobilise resources, think big, act bold, and take pride in creating economic value for the country.

The “permission-based” approach restricts the scope of activities largely to small-scale private businesses, subject to numerous criteria and limitations on scale. In contrast, the “encouragement-based” approach opens the door to all forms of lawful investment and business activities.

Under the former approach, assessments tend to focus on formalities, such as asset size or administrative records and reports. Under the latter, evaluation focuses on substantive contributions, including productivity, technological innovation, tax compliance, social welfare and occupational safety.

The “permission-based” approach also tends to make management overly bureaucratic, focusing on reviewing what Party members are or are not allowed to do. The “encouragement-based” approach, by contrast, emphasises substantive oversight to prevent conflicts between public and private interests.

The new regulation removes invisible barriers to attracting talent. Every Party member engaged in business is a “soldier on the economic front”. This approach will help the Party attract outstanding entrepreneurs, talented intellectuals and highly skilled technical workers.

Party members engaged in economic activities are expected to take the lead in technological innovation, productivity improvement, Vietnamese brand development and sustainable growth. Their role goes beyond earning a living for their families; they are expected to shoulder the mission of strengthening the national economy from within.

However, the term “encouragement” must be properly understood. Encouragement does not mean lax oversight. It must go hand in hand with transparent and integrity-based control mechanisms. The new regulation clearly distinguishes lawful investment and business activities from the abuse of positions, information or public assets for personal gain.

For incumbent officials and civil servants, as well as senior leaders, economic activities will continue to be subject to extremely strict controls to prevent conflicts between public and private interests. Meanwhile, Party members outside the public sector will enjoy maximum flexibility in starting and running businesses.

The shift in wording from “permission” to “encouragement” is not merely an administrative amendment, but a significant breakthrough in thinking.

Legitimate wealth creation is a positive value, as Party members with business acumen not only generate wealth for themselves but also create jobs, produce material wealth and make direct contributions to the country’s prosperity.

This is a requirement of the new era: to unlock, mobilise and harness all social resources for economic development. If the approach stops at merely “permitting” Party members to engage in business, a vast source of intellectual and economic potential within the Party membership could inadvertently be held back.

Today, clearer risk-control mechanisms are in place, with governance shifting towards proactive risk management. Boundaries and powers have also been clarified to reflect Party members’ legal status and prevent potential conflicts of interest.

To ensure that they do not lose sight of their ideals under profit pressures, suffer moral degradation in a complex business environment or undergo political degeneration under the influence of capital flows and external circumstances, the Party consistently emphasises the need for Party members to strictly comply with State laws and the Party’s regulations and Charter, and not engage in activities prohibited to Party members.

They are required to uphold their pioneering role, especially in creating jobs, improving workers’ livelihoods and actively participating in social welfare activities.

Meanwhile, Party organisations must closely monitor and manage Party members’ activities to promptly correct and address deviations in their perceptions and conduct.

As in every sphere of social life, Party members engaged in business must remain committed to self-cultivation and discipline, and maintain firm political mettle as a core value so as not to be swept up in the negative aspects of the market economy./.

VNA