Hanoi (VNA) - Administrative reform has been thoroughly implemented at all levels and helped save more than 18 million working days each year, equivalent to over 6.3 trillion VND (274.32 million USD) of social expenditure, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh has said.

Addressing an online conference on March 18 to review the administrative reform programme over the last ten years and plan for the 2021-2020 period, Binh, who is also head of the Government Steering Committee for Administrative Reform, said 12 organisations at ministry department level or equal, along with four general departments, have been eliminated.

Since the country conducted its national comprehensive renovation, he went on, administrative reform has been an important part of the Party and State’s orientations and policies and was defined as one of the three breakthrough factors for the implementation of the socio-economic development plan in the 2011-2020 period.

The scheme has brought about basic changes in the mindsets of public servants throughout the public administrative system, he noted.

Receiving major attention from the political system, from the central to local level, the scheme has helped promote human rights and citizens’ rights to freedom and democracy via laws on civil, political, cultural, and social matters, he said.

Since 2012, he noted, more than 8,600 documents in the field have been issued.

The modernisation of administration as well as national digital transformation and the building of e-government towards a digital government have also been motivation for the positive changes seen in the working discipline and methods of public agencies, he said.

He attributed the results to the efforts of the Government, the Prime Minister, and leaders of ministries, sectors, and localities in implementing administrative reform in a drastic, flexible, and creative manner.

However, Binh pointed out that some targets in the task have yet to be reached, while the results in certain areas have not been comprehensive.

He asked that participants analyse the achievements and shortcomings in the general programme for administrative reform in the 2011-2020 period, identify limitations and shortcomings and the factors behind problems, and provide recommendations on the building of the programme for the 2021-2030 period./.