Listening to the public is a mission of Fatherland Front chapters at all levels, particularly in the lead-up to the 8th national congress of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), the VFF Central Committee President Nguyen Thien Nhan said in an interview granted to the press recently.

According to the VFF President, all front chapters at communal, district and provincial and municipal levels in the nation’s 63 cities and provinces have held their congresses to collect comments and recommendations to the Front’s working agenda in the new tenure and draft revisions to the VFF’s Statute.

In addition, the congresses at local levels have elected their new leaderships, with the average age of members younger than that in the previous tenure. In addition, the rate of those who are not Party members in local front leaderships is also higher, he said.

In parallel with local activities, the VFF Central Committee has organized five conferences with representatives and experts from different social segments and economic sectors to gather their recommendations.

The VFF leader noted that the theme for the upcoming congress is “Solidarity, Democracy, Renovation and Development”. He elaborated that solidarity is a main function of the front with the aim of creating social consensus and bringing into play the strength of the national bloc for development. At the same time, democracy, renovation and development of the front will also contribute to promoting democracy, renewal and development process of the country.

Based on this theme, the VFF has outlined five major plans of action for the period ahead, focusing on gathering the masses, encouraging their creativity and pro-activeness through patriotic emulation movements, pushing for democracy and protecting the people’s legitimate rights and interests while helping build a strong and healthy Party and administration. At the same time, the front will improve its operational mechanism and capacity, and expand external relations.

Regarding revisions to the VFF Statute, Nhan underlined three note-worthy points. The new statute will provide in greater details the functions of the front in line with the 2013 Constitution, which are to represent the lawful rights and interests of the people, creating social consensus and contributing to building a strong Party and administration through social supervision and criticism. Furthermore, VFF chapters at all levels would be tasked with social supervision and criticism, which is an entirely new content. In addition, for the first time ever the statute would give clear provision on the rights and responsibilities of VFF members both organisations and individuals.

The VFF President also disclosed that the upcoming congress is expected to elect a Central Committee with 385 members, 30 more than the number of the previous leadership. There would be a stronger presence of workers, farmers, scientists, and for the first time small traders would have their own representatives in the central committee.

The 8th national congress of the VFF will take place from September 25-27 in Hanoi.-VNA