Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has urged the entire political system, armed forces and people to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity, the socialist system, and revolutionary achievements in the country while maintaining an environment of peace for national construction and development.

The Party leader, who is also Secretary of the Party Central Committee’s Central Military Commission made the call at a conference which was started in Hanoi on December 28 to review its 2013 work and set tasks for next year.

He made clear that the top priority must be the building of a politically firm military who are absolutely loyal to the revolutionary cause of the Party and people with a strong will to combat and triumph.

They must actively fight against the scheme of “peaceful evolution” by hostile forces and protect themselves from the phenomena like “self-evolution” or “self-transformation”.

Only with thrift practice, continuous studies, improvement of training, modern logistics and technology, and tighter disciplines can the army become revolutionary, regular, elite and modern, he said.

“The army must pay the role of a core force in the fight against natural calamities and the rescue work. This is the task in the time of peace”, the leader said.

During the two-day event, participants will review the 10-year implementation of the science-technology cooperation programme between the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Science and Technology.

They will also sum up the 2013 emulation campaign and launch a similar one for 2014.-VNA