The 12^th Politburo’s Directive 05-CT/TW on studying and emulating Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, ethics, and lifestyle has been comprehensively executed via synchronous, appropriate measures by the General Department of Defence Industry. A primary goal of the studying and following of Uncle Ho’s teachings is to increase the productivity.

Over the years, the General Department of Defence Industry has actively implemented the 11^th Politburo’s Resolution No.6 on building and developing defence industry towards 2020 and beyond, making contributions to meeting the Homeland protection task in the new situation. To address the impacts by the economic downturn in the region and across the globe and execute the Central Military Commission’s Resolution’s 425-NQ/QUTW, dated May 18^th 2017, on rearranging and enhancing the effectiveness of Military-run enterprises towards 2020 and beyond and the Project on arranging, renewing, and developing Military-run enterprises in the period of 2016-2020, the General Department has adopted measures synchronously, with a focus on accelerating the studying and following of Uncle Ho’s teachings in order to promote the spiritual motivation and self-reliance to overcome difficulties and challenges and to make contributions to raising productivity.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Manh Hung inspecting the Factory Z115’ defence products

Being imbued with Uncle Ho’s teachings: “cadres are the root of all work,” for the sake of the improved productivity, the General Department’s Party Committee and Command have always attached great value to raising the quality of a contingent of cadres and especially researchers. Adhering to higher echelons’ directives, resolutions, and plans on the personnel work, the General Department’s Party Committee has issued the Resolution 283-NQ/ĐU, dated October 24^th 2016, on “building a contingent of cadres and performing the personnel work towards 2020 and beyond,” with the proper quantity and high quality. In the process, the General Department’s Party Committee and Command and the affiliated research centres have selected cadres who have political zeal and good qualifications as researchers. At the same time, the General Department has promoted the role and responsibility of good, experienced researchers in studying and designing weapons and technical equipment as well as in training new, inexperienced cadres. Due attention has been paid to detecting, training, and using young talented scientists. Research centres have always adhered to the criteria for specialized and technical job titles and opportunely concretized them into cadres’ job titles as the basis for building a pool of researchers. Due regard has been paid to ensuring cadres’ mental and material life, aligning obligations with rights, and ideal with benefit, combining the training of political qualities and morality with the implementation of equal treatment policy, and creating a favourable condition for each cadre to improve their knowledge and devote themselves to the Military’s scientific and technical work. As a result, cadres within the General Department have undertaken many researches which have been employed in practice and directly made contributions to increasing productivity and business effectiveness. Many of the researches have been given noble awards, such as Ho Chi Minh Award, Vifotec Award, and Army-wide Creative Youth Award.

Grasping and following Uncle Ho’s teachings: “science must be derived from production and it should be used in production in order to increase productivity,” the General Department has always directed its researchers to stay close to reality and focus on studying, designing, and manufacturing new weapons and technical equipment under the Politburo’s Resolution 06-NQ/TW and the Central Military Commission’s Resolution 791-NQ/QUTW, dated December 30^th 2012, on leadership over the scientific, technological, and environmental work towards 2020 and beyond. At the same time, great value has been attached to drawing up documents on designing new products, applying the achievements of the 4^th industrial revolution, ensuring production, dealing with technical issues in the investment and development projects, and taking several products of high economic value to the foreign and home markets. Research centres and factories have managed to manufacture a larger number of weapons under the plan. Researches have been directly put into production or transferred to the technological investment and development projects. Since 2014, the General Department has undertaken 337 researches at all levels, assessed and inspected 238 researches, 218 out of 238 researches have been applied to batch production and manufacture of 50 types of new weapons, military hardware, and technical materials.

In addition, the General Department has directed its offices and units to step up the movement of promoting technical initiatives and innovations, with emphasis placed on settling the issues in the performance of their task, rationalising production, stabilising and enhancing defence products. Over the past 5 years, the General Department has introduced 10,474 technical initiatives which have been employed widely, 14 of them have been given the Vifotec Award by the State, 20 have been awarded at the army-wide defence workers’ initiative competition, 103 have been given the Army-wide Creative Youth Award, and 239 have been awarded by the General Department.

Under Ho Chi Minh’s instructions on the emulation and commendation work, over the years, the Determination to Win Emulation Movement by the General Department has been directed towards the execution of the Resolution 147/NQ-ĐU by the General Department’s Party Committee on stabilising and raising the quality of defence products. Offices and units have focused their emulation work on performing the production task, heightening the role of management, raising the quality of repairing ground-force weapons, maintaining smooth, effective coordination, directing and conducting the work of manufacturing weapons and equipment under the plans, and adopting new method of assigning defence production to meet the requirements set by the Military’s training and exercises as well as the unscheduled missions assigned by the Ministry of National Defence. Offices and units have also successfully fulfilled the A40 and A70 tasks, effectively executed the Project KC-NQ06, and managed to study, design, trial, and demo types of ammunition.

Besides, the emulation movement has been centred on building and repairing military vessels at the regional and global levels. The Ba Son Corporation, the Hong Ha Shipbuilding Company, the Factory Z189, and the Song Thu Corporation have witnessed remarkable development when they have managed to build missile boats, gunboats, specialised and multifunctional ships, motor vehicles, and modern vessels. They have also made progress in repairing vessels for the defence of sea and island sovereignty. It should be noted that the General Department has built new vessels for the Navy and the Coast Guard; therefore, these forces have successfully fulfilled their regular and unexpected missions at sea, greatly contributing to realising the Vietnam Maritime Strategy towards 2020 by the Party and State and firmly protecting the Homeland’s sea and island sovereignty. It is practical emulation goals and measures that have encouraged units to develop the markets, raise the quality and competitiveness of commercial products, maintain stable manufacture of traditional goods, invest in new products of high technology and value addition, and ensure workers’ employment and life, thereby raising their capability in defence production.

Following Uncle Ho’s teachings: “the improvements in daily life and health will encourage people to devote themselves to production,” the General Department has always ensured its workers’ life and considered this work as a goal and an incentive for the increased productivity and business effectiveness. Trade unions within the units have well performed their role in defending the legitimate rights and interests of unionists and defence workers and employees. Policies and entitlements for labourers, particularly for those who work in the toxic and hazardous environment have been implemented sufficiently. Units and factories within the General Department have always ensured the regulations on safety and professional disease, fire, and explosion prevention and control, actively improved their workers’ working condition, income, life, and social welfare, supplemented and completed entitlements and policies for workers, and stepped up cultural and sports activities in line with the campaign on building civilised lifestyle and cultural families. The regulations on pay raise, recruitment, insurance, and financial aid for sick workers and those in difficulty have been strictly maintained. Doing so has contributed to giving considerable incentive to workers to keep their mind on their work and increasing the General Department’s productivity.

The achievements in renewing and enhancing productivity by the General Department’s studying and following of Uncle Ho’s teachings have directly made contributions to heightening defence industry’s importance and role in the development of the Military and the country. Those impressive results have provided a solid foundation for continuing to spread the studying and following of Uncle Ho’s teachings within the General Department and encouraging its staff members to fulfil all assigned tasks.

Lt. Gen. Nguyen Manh Hung, Commissar of the General Department of Defence Industry