Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong speaks at the a ceremony to mark 60 years since President Ho Chi Minh met with intellectuals and VUSTA's 40th founding anniversary (Photo: VOV)

The Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations has more than 2.2 million member intellectuals and scientists. The Vietnam Union of Literature and Arts Associations has more than 40,000 member artists and writers. Vietnam also has a huge force of intellectuals, scientists, and artists working and living overseas. They all have made great contributions to national development.

Intellectuals are treasures of the nation

The Party leader said the Vietnamese Party and State acknowledge intellectuals for their great faith in the Party and their contributions to protecting the ideological foundation of the Party and promoting the strength of the union of workers, farmers and intellectuals.

Mr. Trong said: "Intellectuals are part of our human resources and a scientific and technical resource, who directly participate in increasing people's knowledge and training talents for the country. Continuing the nation's tradition of applying Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought to intellectuals in the renewal process, the Party has paid attention to mobilizing intellectuals and issued many resolutions and directives to bring into play their potential.

Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong meets delegates at the meeting (photo: VOV)

The Party leader said that amid unprecedented developments in Vietnam and around the world and the rapid development of the 4^th Industrial Revolution, which is fostering breakthrough development in multiple areas and creating both opportunities and challenges in every country, the science and technology organizations and intellectuals of Vietnam, especially those in VUSTA, need to work harder to make greater and more effective contributions to help the country achieve rapid, sustainable development.

Intellectuals need to be strengthened to raise national wisdom

The Party leader asked VUSTA and Vietnamese scientists and intellectuals to improve their performance and proposals to the Party and State to boost science and technology and strengthen national industrialization and modernization.

"It’s necessary to improve mechanisms, policies, and legal documents concerning intellectuals. We need to attract, acknowledge, and honor intellectuals in order to strengthen the contingent of Vietnamese intellectuals and ensure their sufficient quantity and quality. It’s also important to create an appropriate structure of intellectuals to meet socio-economic development needs, work out plans to organize and use intellectuals in a reasonable manner, and adopt policies to attract young intellectuals who are really qualified, capable and moral to research institutes, schools and enterprises," said Mr. Trong.

"We also need mechanisms and policies to attract overseas Vietnamese intellectuals to participate in training, scientific research, and transfer of new technologies and honor outstanding achievements in scientific research and technological development," added the Party leader.

Mr. Trong stressed the need to improve Party leadership, create conditions for intellectuals to spread knowledge to encourage the public to apply science and technology in  their daily life, production, business, and protection of the environmental.

The Party leader asked VUSTA to actively push ahead with reforms, promote initiatives, dynamics and creativity and diversify activities in alignment with socio-economic development strategies. VUSTA and its member organizations were also urged to foster professional ethics for intellectuals and encourage them to contribute more to national development.