Bringing into play its achievements in 75 years of construction and development, the Military Financial Branch continues adopting synchronous measures for improving the quality of the financial work to meet the requirements set by the military-defence task and the Homeland protection in the new situation.

On March 25^th, 1946, President Ho Chi Minh signed the Decree 34/SL on the organisation of the Ministry of National Defence (MND), including the decision to establish the Department of Management as the forerunner of the MND’s present-day Department of Finance, marking the inception of the Military Financial Branch tasked with counselling, managing, and ensuring the financial work across the Military. Over the past 75 years (March 25^th, 1946 - March 25^th, 2021), generations of cadres, employees and soldiers of the Military Financial Branch have always heightened diligence, thrift, and self-reliance, proactively overcome difficulties, successfully fulfilled their assigned task, and built up the tradition of “steadfastness, knowledge, unity, democracy, discipline,” thereby greatly contributing to the Military’s development and the country’s national liberation, construction and protection.

In recent years, the Military Financial Branch, particularly the Department of Finance (DOF) have advised the MND on performing its role in managing the Military’s finance, while counselling the Central Military Commission (CMC) and the MND to drastically take measures to renew and improve the financial work. In this regard, emphasis has been placed on designing and renewing the mechanism for allocating financial resources, supplementing and perfecting the mechanism for leading, managing, and operating the financial work, and making methods of financial support within the Military relevant to the State’s reform in financial and economic policy and law. It is worth noting that the Branch has give advice on developing and executing the CMC’s Resolution 915-NQ/QUTW, dated August 25^th, 2018 and the MND’s Project on “renewing the military financial management mechanism under the State Budget Law in the period of 2018-2025 and beyond,” thus achieving a breakthrough, fundamental, and comprehensive change in budget estimation and allocation. At the same time, due regard has been paid to opportunely providing financial support for regular and irregular missions in a comprehensive but focalised manner under the direction from the CMC and the MND, making contributions to the Military’s successful implementation of all assigned tasks.

Maj. Gen. Luu Sy Quy addressing the 75th founding anniversary of the Military Financial Branch

Under the Resolutions of the 13^th National Party Congress and the 11^th Military Party Congress, in the coming years, the entire Military will accelerate its modernisation process and perform a lot of major missions, particularly force organisation, training, combat readiness, and materiel assurance. The military-defence task’s financial demand will sharply increase, while the State’s budget will be limited. That will impose more requirements on the military financial work. To fulfil its task, the Military Financial Branch will continue promoting its tradition, political zeal and knowledge, while closely cooperating with relevant ministries and sectors in synchronously adopting specialised measures to comprehensively renew the military financial work and further raise the quality of this work, with a focus on the following,

First, proactively grasp the situation and give sound advice to all-level party committees and commands, especially at the strategic level on the military financial work. Financial offices at all levels should thoroughly grasp the military-defence task, the Resolution 513-NQ/QUTW, dated September 21^st, 2013 by the CMC Standing Board on “the military financial work towards 2020 and beyond,” and higher echelons’ directives as the basis for enhancing their capabilities in financial research, forecast, and consultancy. Emphasis should be placed on proposing a system of measures to synchronously, comprehensively, fundamentally and drastically renew the military financial work, completing policies to mobilise and diversify financial resources for the military-defence task, perfecting the mechanism for managing, operating, and using state and business budget and assets, and developing and supplementing new entitlements and policies to meet the requirements set by the military build-up and national defence consolidation in the new period. In the medium term, it is necessary to advise the CMC on promulgating a new regulation to replace the Regulation 707-QC/QUTW on party committees’ leadership over the military financial work. Due attention should be paid to counselling the MND to well fulfil financial targets and tasks in the period of 2021-2025 and formulate financial plans/programmes for executing the Resolution of the 11^th Military Party Congress and military-defence strategies. Besides, consideration should be given to implementing the Resolution No.513 in line with the Project on “renewing the military financial management mechanism under the State Budget Law of 2015 in the period of 2018-2025 and beyond,” completing the financial autonomy mechanism for military hospitals and units approved by the MND, and give advice on enhancing the emulation movement titled “building good financial management unit” in a practical, effective fashion as the motivation for well performing the financial work.

Second, consolidate the organisational structure of the Military Financial Branch and making it comprehensively strong and capable of meeting the task requirements in both long and short terms. Grasping and following the direction by the CMC and the MND, the DOF should continue cooperating with units in consolidating financial agencies in accordance with each force’s organisational structure and synchronously taking measures to build comprehensively strong, exemplary, typical financial agencies and a contingent of financial cadres and employees with the proper quantity, political zeal, comprehensive knowledge, and standard professional qualifications on a par with their task requirements. Financial bodies within units should proactively advise party committees and commanders on developing training plans for financial staff members, organising specialised training courses and contests at all levels, implementing policies to recruit high-quality human resources, and building a contingent of financial cadres and employees to keep pace with the Branch’s development. The DOF should collaborate with schools both inside and outside the Military in training and building human resources majoring in several new fields. Also, it should direct all-level financial offices to actively renew their working method, build a standard order in their work, and promote the emulation movement of “building good financial management unit.” Due attention should be paid to applying information technology to digitalising financial activities under the roadmap for building the e-government and conducting the administrative reform in the military financial sphere so as to achieve a breakthrough in the task performance.

Third, synchronously implement specialised measures to further improve the quality and efficiency of managing and using finance and assets. The Military Financial Branch should encourage its core role in operating, controlling, and managing the use of budget effectively under law. To that end, it is essential to strictly maintain financial regulations, closely combine financial support with financial supervision, and proactively adjust the structure of expenses in an appropriate, comprehensive but focalised manner. Besides, significance should be attached to closely combining decentralisation of financial management with inspection and control of spending, and enhancing measures for financial management in bidding and procurement. Great weight should be added to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of spending control and price management as well as supervising military enterprises’ management and use of State capital and assets. Significance should be attached to well managing, appraising and approving the price of national defence products transparently, openly, supervising the procurement mechanism, minimising payment by cash, expanding payment via the State Treasury, accelerating the settlement of projects, and ensuring close financial supervision prior to, during, and after spending. Moreover, it is necessary to enhance the work of financial investigation, inspection, and audit at all levels for all steps of budget use, practise thrift, combat corruption and wastefulness, opportunely detect and overcome weaknesses, and strictly maintain disciplines of the financial work.

Fourth, design, supplement and perfect mechanisms and policies for the military financial work to meet the task requirements in the new situation. In the upcoming time, the Military Financial Branch should continue review, develop, and release a system of legal normative documents on military finance and budget in line with the country’s reform in financial management and economic development to create a legal corridor for its operation. In this regard, emphasis should be placed on amending the Regulations on the financial work of the Vietnam People’s Army, supplementing and completing the system of statutes on the financial work in accordance with a reform in the military financial management mechanism, particularly for managing, operating, and using finance, public assets, and national defence land as well as for procurement, investment in capital construction, and corporate financial management. Due attention should be paid to formulating and perfecting the system of norms for sectors’ spending under the roadmap for realising the Project on renewing the financial management mechanism, and developing a preferential treatment policy for the forces working in the border, sea, island, remote, isolated areas in accordance with the country’s socio-economic condition and the Military’s particularities. Furthermore, it is important to maintain cooperation with relevant offices in completing a new payroll for the armed forces and the financial autonomy mechanism for military hospitals in order to increase financial resources for the military-defence task.

Grasping the Resolutions of the 13^th National Party Congress and the 11^th Military Party Congress, bringing into play its achievements in the past 75 years, the Military Financial Branch will keep striving for the successful fulfilment of its function and assigned task to make contributions to firmly protecting the Socialist Vietnamese Homeland.

Maj. Gen. LUU SY QUY, Director of the MND’s DOF