The Presidium chaired the Forum "Ministry of Industry and Trade: Combating waste, unleashing development resources", morning of December 23, 2024.

On the morning of December 23, in Hanoi, the Forum "Ministry of Industry and Trade: Combating waste, unleashing development resources" was held, organized by the Industry and Trade Newspaper.

According to the program of practicing thrift and fighting waste in the period of 2021-2025, the Ministry of Industry and Trade sets a goal of enhancing the sense of responsibility for practicing thrift and fighting waste in corporations, companies, administrative and public service units, cadres, civil servants and public employees under the Ministry.

At the same time, clearly define the responsibilities of leaders in practicing thrift and fighting waste in units; strictly handle acts that cause loss and waste; serve as a basis for evaluating the performance of units, individuals, cadres, civil servants and public employees.

Waste has been causing many serious consequences for development, causing a decline in human resources, financial resources, reducing production efficiency, increasing cost burden, depleting resources, widening the gap between rich and poor; causing a decline in people's trust in the Party and State, creating invisible barriers in socio-economic development, and missing development opportunities for the country.
General Secretary To Lam

Speaking at the opening of the Forum, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan affirmed: " As a multi-sector economic ministry, the Party Committee and the Ministry's leadership always practice thrift and combat waste in all activities of the industry and trade sector, creating resources for economic development".

In 2021, the Ministry saved 4.5 billion VND in business expenses, 1.2 billion VND in conference expenses, 1 billion VND in celebration expenses, and 1.7 billion VND in stationery and communications.

Single-member limited liability companies; corporations and state-owned joint stock companies holding over 50% of capital with the Ministry of Industry and Trade as the owner representative save up to VND 10.9 billion.

By 2022, the corporations had saved VND290,479 billion in management costs. In 2023, the Ministry's Office saved VND13,190 billion in state budget expenditures (10.66% of the allocated budget). Along with that, the corporations saved up to VND765.9 billion in management costs.

Based on the synthesis of the 2023 State budget estimates of the units, the Ministry has proactively cut when building the budget of the Ministry of Industry and Trade such as: saving at least 10% of regular expenditure.

"Although initial results have been achieved, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has determined that it must continue to promote thrift practice and combat waste," Deputy Minister Nguyen Sinh Nhat Tan emphasized.

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Truong, Head of Department of Localities I, Central Internal Affairs Committee, said: "Waste still occurs in many stages of the development process."

Dr. Nguyen Xuan Truong, Head of Department of Localities I - Central Internal Affairs Committee.

Identifying some forms of waste that are emerging fiercely today, according to Dr. Truong: "That is the quality of building and perfecting laws that do not meet practical requirements, leading to difficulties, hindering implementation, causing loss and waste of resources. That is wasting time and effort of businesses and individuals when administrative procedures are cumbersome, wasting development opportunities, wasting natural resources; wasting public assets due to ineffective management and use".

The implementation of national programs, goals, and credit packages to support social security development is mostly very slow, which is also a form of waste.

Along with that is waste in investment and construction activities. As evidence, Dr. Truong said: "There is still a situation of establishing projects to take advantage of funding sources, loans, and public investment capital when there is no urgent need, leading to projects not being used or being used ineffectively after completion, causing waste.

The situation of calculating the total investment, investment phases inappropriately, and making investment decisions spread out leads to many projects having to be extended due to insufficient capital allocation, causing capital to increase many times compared to the total investment initially approved; choosing contractors with insufficient capacity, causing many disputes during project implementation, leading to a number of projects having to stop construction, and after many years not being put into use, causing serious waste of state assets.

" In the past, "handling waste has not been emphasized, often associated with dealing with corruption as a consequence; there has not been a widespread emulation movement on practicing thrift and fighting waste as well as strong public opinion to criticize and condemn wasteful behaviors; the building of a culture of thrift and non-waste in society has not received due attention," Mr. Truong stated.

Considering that saving and fighting waste are fundamental principles in managing and increasing resources for development in many countries around the world, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hai Binh - Alternate Member of the Party Central Committee, Editor-in-Chief of Communist Magazine affirmed: " In the global context and the increase of problems related to resources, waste has become a serious problem that many countries are trying to solve, Vietnam is no exception to that general trend".

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Le Hai Binh, waste prevention and control work needs to be implemented drastically and synchronously with effective solutions, creating a strong spread, becoming a behavioral culture in the new era.