4-28-06, 9:06 am

Re-elected Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh has expressed his firm belief that the Party will be able to counter rampant corruption, while eyeing accelerated and sustained development for the nation.

In his first press conference as General Secretary of the Party Central Committee's 2006-2010 tenure, Party leader Manh said on April 25 that his biggest concern was how to make the country develop at a faster, more sustainable and effective rate.

'Good aspects should be nurtured while negative ones, such as corruption, must be reduced,' he said. 'I do believe that we will push back and prevent corruption.'

Party leader Manh said that the corruption problem can be attributed to the moral deprivation of some cadres, greedy individualism, a lack of education and poor human resources management.

He stressed the importance of carrying out a series of solutions at all levels in order to resolve the problem and that loopholes in the management system need to be constantly patched.

'It is persistent and long-term work,' he said, adding that disciplinary action over corruption against about 40,000 Party members over the past five years was actually positive work by the Party, which is keen to deal with negative phenomena in a straightforward manner.

General Secretary Manh also said that he wanted to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor, in order to realise the goals of 'rich people, strong country; and an equal, democratic and civilised society.'

Regarding democracy issues, Mr Manh said that the democratic atmosphere will continue to improve in the future. He said that the Party wanted to listen to not just good news but also different opinions and criticisms to make further improvements.

Answering a question by the press about Vietnamese communists conducting private business, Party leader Manh said that the 10th National Congress approved allowing Party members to open private businesses, but they would have to follow not only the laws, like other citizens, but also the Party's regulations.

He said that the 10th Party Central Committee would issue specific regulations on the issue.

'The country's ultimate goal is to eradicate poverty, therefore, Party members must also act. There is definitely nothing contradictory here,' he said.

He briefed journalists on the results of the 10th National Party Congress and also thanked both the domestic and foreign media for their extensive coverage of the country's most important political event.

He said that after eight days of work under the spirit of democracy, unity, intelligence and renewal, the Congress completed all of its proposed programmes, passed important documents and elected a new Party leadership, including 160 official members and 21 alternate members, for the 10th Party Central Committee.

From Vietnam News Agency