Communist Review - Developing the collective economy is the consistent, throughout advocacy of the Party and the State of Vietnam. The collective, cooperative economy with a lot of abundant organizational forms, diverse activities has been developing further in quantity and scope, making an important contribution to the goal of sustainable development.

Great advocacies, orientations of the Communist Party of Vietnam on developing collective, cooperative economy

The program on national building in the transitional period to advance towards socialism (Added, developed in 2011) affirmed: “The collective economy has been constantly consolidated and developed. The State-run economy together with the collective economy has become the ever more solid foundation for the national economy”. The Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW on March 18, 2002, the 5^th Plenum of the 9^th Party tenure, on the continuity of renovation, development and improvement of effectiveness of the collective economy, has concretized the Program, mapped out the relatively comprehensive advocacies and policies on developing the collective economy, in which there are the viewpoints, goals, tasks and solutions to the year 2010 with a view to taking the collective economy out of weaknesses, striving to reach the higher growth rate in an advance to obtain the ever higher proportion in GDP of the economy. The Resolution pointed out: The collective economy with a lot of diverse cooperation forms, the core of which is the cooperatives, based on the ownership of the members and of the collective ownership, extensive linkage of the labourers, the production and business households, the small and medium businesses of the different economic sectors, without any limits to the scope, fields and areas; distribution according to labour, to capital contribution and the level of participation in services; operation in accordance with the principle of willingness, equality and mutual interests and the management in line with democracy, autonomy and self-responsibility. The collective economy takes the economic interests as the main, comprising the interests of the members and the collective interests, at the same time, importance is attached to the social interests of the members, contributing to eradicating hunger and reducing poverty, in an advance to make rich for the members and to develop the community. To continue to develop the collective economy in the sectors, fields and areas, in which the important point is in the agricultural and rural areas.

The report of the Party Central Commitee of the 9^th Party tenure on the direction and task of the 5-year (2006-2010) economic and social development at the 10^th Party Congress pointed out: “To continue to renew the policy so as to encourage and promote the more vigorous development of the forms of the collective economy with the forms of volunteer and diverse cooperation, meeting the requirements of the members, conforming to the development level of the sectors and jobs in all areas.  To continue to study the building of the new-type cooperative model on the basis of reviewing the units that have done well the job so as to increase the attractiveness and create the motive force for the collective economy, particularly for agriculture, the handicraft industry. To diversify the ownership form in the collective economy (with the ownership of legal entity, natural person). To develop the forms of businesses in cooperatives and the forms of the cooperative union. To have mechanism for the cooperatives to promote the right to use the common means of production at the establishments; to clearly separate this right from the right to ownership of the cooperative members. To encourage the mobilization of shares and the source of capital contribution of the members so as to constantly increase the investment capital for the development of the cooperatives. To encourage the increase of the undivided property and fund. To dissolve or transfer the formal cooperatives to the form of production and business to be conforming to the stipulations of the law”.

The political report at the 10^th Party Congress pointed out: “To develop the economy of multi-form ownership, multi-economic sectors, in which the State-run economy plays the leading role; the State-run economy together with the collective economy has become the ever firmer foundation of the national economy. To summarize the realities so as to have the specific policy and mechanism to encourage the more vigorous development of the collective economy which is diverse in the ownership form and the production and business organizational forms, including the cooperative teams and the new-type cooperatives. To pay attention to developing and improving the efficiency of operation of cooperatives and the joint stock cooperative unions.

To encourage the increase of capital contribution and mobilization from the members so as to increase the source of the cooperatives’ operational capital, to increase the development investment capital, to raise the undivided property and fund in the cooperatives. Cooperatives and the forms of cooperative economy operating in accordance with the principle: volunteer, democracy, equality and openness; autonomy, self-responsibility and mutual benefits; cooperation and development of community”.

The Instructions No. 20-CT/TW on January 2, 2008 of the Secretariat “On enhancement of the leadership of implementing the Resolution of the 5^th Plenum of the 9^th Party tenure on the continuity of renovation, development and improvement of the collective economic effectiveness” stressed: “To enhance the leadership of the Party committee levels, to raise the managing role of the State in continuing the renovation, development and improvement of effectiveness of collective economy”. The State has issued the policies to support the collective economy in the process of building and developing, through the help in training and fostering their cadres, in applying science and technology, grasping information, expanding the market, building the development support funds, resolving the previous stagnant debts, encouraging the accumulation and effective use of the collective capital in cooperatives. To develop the collective economy in accordance with the motto of activeness but solidness, starting from the practical requirements, from the low level to the high level so as to be able to obtain the practical effectiveness for the development of production, to avoid being involuntary, hasty, constraining and imposing; at the same time, leadership must not be slackened, leaving the situation to develop spontaneously, to be slow in grasping and meeting the requirements of the development of the cooperative economy of the people.

The Conclusion No. 70-KL/TW on March 9, 2020 of the Political Bureau “On the continuity to implement the  Resolution of the 5^th Plenum of the 9^th Party tenure concerning the continuity of renovation, development and improvement of the collective economic effectiveness” affirmed “to improve the wareness for cadres and party members, particularly the chiefs of agencies, organizations and people on the essence of the collective, cooperative economy, particularly the new-type cooperatives. The position and role of the collective economy are affirmed in the socialist-oriented market economy, the development of the collective, cooperative economy is affirmed to be the inevitable trend, the task of the whole political system”.

The Resoluton of the 13^th National Party Congress affirms the development trend: “the State-run economy plays the leading role; the collective economy, the cooperative economy are to be constantly consolidated and developed” (1) and the operational principle: “The collective economy, the cooperative economy, the cooperatives, the cooperative teams have got the large operational scope with the role of providing services to the members; connecting and coordinating production and business, ensuring interests and creating conditions for the members to improve productivity and effectiveness in production and business and to develop sustainably. To enhance the linkage between cooperatives and form the cooperative associations and unions” (2).

That the framework of the law on cooperatives was completed had the concentrated guidance and as a result, the 2012 Law on Cooperatives and the promulgated related legal stipulations had created favourable conditions for the collective, cooperative economy to develop in the direction of reducing to the minimum the procedures of establishing and registering business; the members of the cooperatives comprise both legal entities and natural persons; cadres and civil servants are able to take part in the cooperatives in their capacities as the cooperative members; the managing function of the management board and the operating function of the chairman of the cooperatives are clearly determined. At the same time, more attention has been paid to the building of mechanism and policy to support and enhance the development of the collective economy and cooperatives, in which it includes the policies on land, finance-credit, science-technology, the support to the marketing and expanding of the market, the invements in developing infrastructure, in developoing human resources and the policy on the development of agricultural cooperatives. To uphold the responsibilities of the party committee levels, to promote the role of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Vietnam Peasants’ Association, the political and social organizations and the Vietnam Cooperatives’ Union in propaganda and mobilization of the people to participate and develop the collective economy and the cooperatives.

A number of issues raised after nearly 20 years of implementing the Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW, the 5^th Plenum, the 9^th Party tenure on developing collective, cooperative economy

After nearly 20 years of implementing the Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW, 10 years of carrying out the Law on Cooperatives in 2012, cooperatives, the cooperative teams  have developed in quantity and quality in all the regions and the quality in activities has been improved. The collective, cooperative economy has given support to nearly 6 million members, mainly the farmers’ households, raised the effectiveness in production and business, created a great number of jobs, making an important contribution to the sconomic and social development, ensuring political security and social order and safety.

As of December 2021, the whole country had 73,000  cooperative teams, 27,342 cooperatives and 103 cooperative unions. Of the total number of 27,342 cooperatives in the whole country, there were 18,327 agricultural cooperatives, 1,181 people’s credit funds and 9,015 non-agricultural cooperatives, attracting the participation of 5.7 million members. The number of cooperatives increased by 16,420 units (more than about 2.54 times) as compared to that in 2001. The number of cooperatives in effective operation occupied about 52%  out of the total number of cooperatives (14,295 cooperatives). In agriculture, there were 18,327 cooperatives (accounting for nearly 70% of the total number of cooperatives of the whole country) and 79 agritultural cooperative unions; attracting 3.28 million households (38% of the total number of households getting involved in agricultural, forestry and fisheries production), a reduction of 1.87 million members as compared to that in 2013; on average, each cooperative had 176 members; there were 2,297 cooperatives having set up their own enterprises within cooperatives, occupying 13% of the total number of agricultural cooperatives nationwide. The total number of regular labourers in the agricultural cooperatives was put at about 550,000 people; the working capital of an agricultural cooperative was about VND 1.61 billion; the average revenue reached VND 1.87 billion per cooperative; the average profit was put at VND 207 million per cooperative.

Cooperatives have step by step become the mainstay, promoting the role of the household economy, enhancing the linkage in production, processing and selling, overcoming the small, fragmented state, creating jobs, reducing production costs, increasing the product selling prices, contributing to improving the income.

However, the collective, cooperative economy has still met with a lot of difficulties and challenges. The collective, cooperative economy has still got a lot of limitations and weaknesses that are yet to be overcome. The growth rate is slow, lacks stability, is yet to be sustainable; the ratio of contributions to the GDP is low and has the trend of gradual reduction, is yet to meet the targets as mapped out by he Resolution No. 13-NQ/TW: “To take the collective economy out of weaknesses, to trive to obtain the higher growth rate in an advance to have an ever greater proportion in GDP of the economy”. The statistical figures show that the collective economy’s contribution to GDP has reduced from 10% (1995) to 8.6% (2000), 6.18% (2005, 3.99% (2010), 3.8% (2017) and 3.49% (2019); the growth rate is low, only approximately 1/2 of the general growth rate of the economy: 4.48% (1995), 5.46% (2000), 3.98% (2005), 3.32% (2010), 5.22% (2015) and 4.20% (2019).

The number of the members participating in the cooperative teams, the cooperatives is still low (around 6 million members). The people are still in doubt, are yet to believe, to be attracted by te model of the new-tyoe cooperatives; therefore, it is yet to be able to mobilize the participation and expansion of members in the activities of te cooperatives. The law, policies on the linkage are still slow to be perfected, thus leading to the fading linkage of interests between cooperatives and their members, the spirit of cooperation is still obstructed by worrying psychology, so the direct economic interests brought about by the cooperatives to their members are still left much to be desired. In agriculture, the cooperatives have nly attracted 3.23 million households of agric ultural production, accounting for 38% of the total number of households getting involved in agricultural, forestry and fisheries production, a reduction of 1.87 million members as compared to that in 2013.

The linkage and cooperation among the members inside cooperatives, between cooperatives and cooperatives, between cooperative and enterprises and other economic sectors are still limited with the yet high effectiveness. The models of cooperatives that are in effective operation are still slow in review and guidance and in promulgation of the institution for development. The newly established cooperatives re mainly of small size, lacking motivation to expand in size for development. As of the end of 2021, around 23% of the agricultural cooperatives had taken part in the value chain linkage from production, processing and selling. Productivity, product quality, added value are yet to be high. It is yet to bring about the best benefits to the members, the development of the cooperatives and the agricultural cooperatives is yet to be sustainable.

The cause of the above-mentioned state of affairs is mainly due to:

The yet-to-be correct, full and unified awareness of the nature of cooperatives, of the position and role of the collective economy in the national economic and social development; there is still much complex with the old-type cooperatives, the doubt and lack of confidence in the development of the new-type cooperatives; there is still a lack of the theoretical and practical studies in the development of the collective economy in Vietnam in the conditions of the socialist-oriened market economy. Even though the Resolution of the 5^th Plenum and the Law on Cooperatives in 2012 have stipulated quite clearly the nature and the principle of the operation of cooperatives, the awarness of the nature of cooperatives remain yet to be unified; it still equates the model of cooperatives with the model of enterprises, still confuses between the interests of cooperatives and the profits of enterprises.

The resources to support the development of the collective economny are yet to meet the requirements, the effectiveness is yet to be high, some time and some where it is still slackened, it still lacks the attention as well as failing to arrange  enough resources to promote the collective economy’s development. The framework of the law on cooperatives still falls short of adequacy. The promulgation of policies is still not yet in time, still runs short of synchrony, consistency, is yet to be suitable to the realities; a number of policies to encourage and support cooperatives are not feasible and difficult to be put into life. The State’s support is yet to be strong enough; the policies on incentives and support for the collective, cooperative economy are issued in a great number, but the resources along with them are yet to guarantee; it is difficult to get access to the source of credit capital because of the stipulations in terms of mortgage and loans; the support fund for the development of cooperatives has been formed, but the scope is still limited as compared to the requirements of capital in this area.

The State management apparatus concerning the collective economy is still insufficient, weak and confused in organization and mechanism of operation.  The coordination among the ministries and sectors for the development of the collective economy is still poorly effective. In localities, it is yet to stipulate clearly and yet to be unified about which agency shall take the main charge of the collective economy. Many localities are yet to pay attention to leading and organizing the implementation of the support, propaganda and dissemination of the lines, policies and laws on the collective economy; it still lacks the inspection and assessment of the results in implementing the resolutions; the party committee levels in many places are  yet to pay enough attention, even still make light of the cadres who carry out the task of developing the collective economy.

Improving awareness, concentrating on resources for developing collective economy

The context of the current situation is changing very fast. Vietnam is participating in an ever more intensive and extensive manner in the process of globalization and international economic integration. The Fourth Industrial Revolution, the digital transformation, climate change, natural disasters, epidemics, COVID-19 pandemic, the extremely complicated and unpredictable political, trade and military conflicts have posed to Vietnam with a lot of difficulties and challenges, but they have also created the intermingled opportunities.

As for the development of the collective and cooperative economy, there are a lot of opportunities for learning, experiencing and improving capacities as well as receiving the new production technology and the management technology; attracting foreign investments, particularly from the big partners with advanced technologies; expanding export.

International integration has created motivation to promote the shift of economic structure, the improvement of investment and b usiness environment and from there, to improve the effectiveness and competitiveness of the economy, raise the position of Vietnam in the international arena. The digital transformation, in which the development of digital economy has made the time and space distance be narrowed down, human activities become more intelligent and more effective, is an opportunity to make full use of it to create the breakthrough to bridge the development gap, creating conditions to accelerate the e-commerce. At the same time, competition will happen ever fiercer, even right in the domestic market, especially when the tariff barrier will be gradually removed in accordance with the commitments of international trade in which Vietnam has participated.

In face of these developments, to continue the development of the collective and cooperative economy, it is neceaary to carry out synchronously all the solutions, the important point of which is to improve the awareness and to mobilize the resources to support and encourage the collective and cooperative economy to develop, specifically as follows:

Firstly, to continue to affirm that the ever developing collective and cooperative economy is the inevitable trend; it is the important economic sector to together with the State-run economy to become the solid economy of the national economy. Developing the collective economy is in conformity with the mechanism of the socialist-oriented market economy and must start from the requirements of the members, respect the value and principle of operation of the cooperative organization and conform to the economic and social conditions and features of each locality, each region, at the same time must comply fully with the economic laws, the organizational principles of the cooperatives, the co-ownership, autonomy, self-responsibility established willingly by the members with a view to helping each other in production and business activities, to creating jobs and meeting the common requirements of the members on the basis of equality, democracy and mutual benefits.

Assessing the effectiveness of the collective economy must be comprehensive in economy, politics, society, security and defence of the country, and in the effectiveness of the organization of the collective economy and the interests of the members. The strength of the collective and cooperative economy lies in the cooperation and linkage of the members horizontally (cooperation among the members) and vertically, according to the value chain (cooperation between members and cooperatives, enterprises). That is why, the goal needs to have the criteria for the number of members participating in the collective and cooperative economy (the rate of members over population, the average rate of members over cooperatives); the cooperation and linkage of the members are through the service supply of the cooperatives and the use of the services by the members.

Secondly, to accelerate the propaganda and study to improve the awareness, to create the consensus about advocacies and orientation of development of the collective and cooperative economy:

* Developing the collective and cooperative economy must be based on the fundamental principle: democracy, willingness, self-responsibilities, democratic management and interests of the community. The nature and principle of operation of the cooperatives must be clearly defined. Cooperatives, the Cooperatives’ Union are the economic organizations operating on an equal footing on the market in order to bring about the interests to the members, making an important contribution to ensuring social security, eradicating hunger and reducing poverty, improving effectiveness, promoting the economic development, improving the life of a number of members and whence contributing to raising effectiveness and common competitiveness of the entire economy, enhancing the unity among the members and it will go viral to the society; to highten the political and social position of the majority of the members and the labourers in their capacity as the masters.

* The members volunteer to join and to leave the cooperatives; the democratic and equal management; self-responsiblities and mutual interests; the division of  profits must ensure the combination of interests of the members and the development of the cooperatives, the cooperation and development of the community. Cooperatives are organized on the basis of the requirements and voluntary participation of the labourers, abide b y strictly the orinciples of the cooperatives and affirmed by the law, when participating in the cooperatives, the labourers must contribute their shares and their efforts. Distribution in the cooperatives is the distribution in accordance with labour and with contributed capital, distribution is made in accordance with the level of the use of services of the members of the cooperatives; the cooperatives have got the legal status; they are entitled to make decisions of their own on the whole process of production and business in accordance with the stipulations of the law, enjoying equality with other economic organizations.

As for the members of the cooperatives, the prerequisite for them is to contribute their capital (according to the provisions of the Rules of Cooperatives), to contribute their efforts to the cooperatives when needed; the members with contributed capital can enjoy their annual divided profits and the profits can be withdrawn when they leave the cooperatives. The households remain the autonomous economic units and they participate in the cooperatives only when they want to  settle their own affairs which the households are unable to do or if they can do, the effectiveness is low. The managers and operators of the organizations of the cooperative economy are not the people who have much capital; they are only the prestigious and experienced people elected by the majority of the members. The organization of the cooperative economy and the cooperatives are of social - humanitarian character, in the interests of the community and it is one of the fundamental motivations for existence and development of the cooperative economy.

* The cooperative economy is based on the ownership of the members and the collective ownership; distribution according to labour, to the contributed capital and the degree of the participation in services; it operates according to the principle of autonomy, self-responsibilities, volunteer, equality, mutual interests and democratic management, taking the economic interests as the main, comprising the interests of the members and the collective interests, at the same time, importance is attached to the social interests of the members. It is necessary to make clearer and more prominent the nature of the cooperative organization, ensuring that cooperatives can be able to supply services to the members so as to bring about the interests to the members, and it is not for the purpose of profits. To receive the international experience in the development of cooperatives, particularly the principles of cooperatives recommended by the UN, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA).

The cooperatives when established and registered their business must have their own rules, their clear plans for production and business and they must register at the competent State agencies so as to be recognized as having the legal status; they are set up and dissolved (willingly or by force when they violate the law) based on the requirements of the members, and it is advisable not to think that when they are set up, they must exist for ever.

* When developing the collective economy, there are the diverse forms, in which cooperatives are the core ones. Developing the collective economy comprises a lot of diverse forms, extensive linkage of the farmers’ households, the labourers, the households doing production and business, the small- and medium-sized enterprises without any limitations to the size, fields and areas; the members’ interests are to be ensured. It is to encourage the development of cooperatives in a solid, effective manner, ensure the role of the members as the real masters and interests are brought to the members. The cooperatives can be set up without being limited in terms of administrative boundary and a labourer can be able to be simultaneously the member of many cooperatives (if the Rules of Cooperarives have no other stipulations). The objects participitating in cooperatives are the individuals (the labourers) or the individuals and legal statuses. To develop the cooperatives doing multi-sectoral, general business or specialized sector.

The organizational model and the size of the cooperative economy and diverse cooperatives depend on the concrete conditions of each sector, each region and the requirements as well as the volunteer of the labourers who have the requirements of working together in the same job or in various jobs, in a definite time and space. Following are some models of cooperatives:

+ The mixed model (the general business); these are the cooperatives which both get directly involved in organizing the concentrated production and business and operate in supplying services for the households of the cooperative members, the jobs which each household find it unable to have the conditions to do, or if any, the results are poor. The mixed cooperatives are the very effective cooperative organizational model which many countries and territories in the world have been applying such the wine processing cooperatives in the Federal Republic of Germany, the vegetable producing cooperatives of Taiwan (China), the Moshaw dairy cow breeding cooperative from Israel. In Vietnam, the regions that have developed commodities production and economy have followed this model as it has an advantage of developing the agricultural production in combination with processing and consumption, while expanding the industrial and handicraft sectors and building the rural areas. The cooperatives have both the conditions to accumulate rapidly from the different revenue sources and to promote the role of autonomy in doing the household economy of the cooperative members in the process of shifting to commodities production.

+ The model of purely services supplying cooperatives: This model is very diverse in size, in the form of organization and the operational areas; it develops in all the fields such as agriculture, industry, services, health, education, environmental protection and tourism. This model is set  up willingly by the cooperative members, depending on the law of each country that stipulates the minimal number of cooperative members, but it is impossible to expand to thousands of members, even tens of thousands of members, such as the credi cooperative from the Federal Repoublic of Germany; the form of organization is very abundant and adverse; some cooperatives have been set up to operate with one, two or many finds of services; they can be specialized in giving the “input” services or in giving the “output” services of production or even in giving services of both. The service cooperative is the organizational model encouraged by countries for development, particularly in the countries with the highly specialized level and developed economy. In Vietnam now, this model has been formed and vigorously developed in the regions with the conditions of developed economy. Even though most of it is still simple and lacks experience, while the environment is yet to be favourable, it has initially met certain immediate requirements of the members, particularly the services for the agricultural-forestry-fisheries production.

+ The model of the concentrated cooperative production: This is the kind of model having the advantage of socializing the means of production, having a lot of conditions to concentrate on the investment capital so as to modernize fast production and apply the new science and technology. However, this model has revealed its limitations in exploitation, use and promotion of the resources as well as the dynamic, creative spirit of each cooperative member due to the incompatibility with the realties in production, thus leading to the not very high production effectiveness, resulting in the fact that those countries with the market economy have not many models of this kind of cooperatives in existence. 

*To develop the cooperative economy and cooperatives step by step, it is diverse in form, size and scope of operation in conformity with the requirements and conditions of each sector and each region:

In the agricultural field: To focus on classification and treatment of the backlog of agricultural cooperatives, to support and create conditions for the cooperatives to operate effectively and step by step to advance towards the new-type cooperatives, to dissolve the weak cooperatives as stipulated by the law. To form the cooperative teams and cooperatives which are diverse from the low level to the high level as required and volunteered by the founding members so as to support and help each other to develop production and business. To build and develop the new-type cooperatives that do the general business (services and concentrated production – the model of mixed cooperatives), the cooperatives or the cooperative teams that specialize in giving services (the specialized services or the general services), such as earth working, irrigation, processing, materials supply and so on in places where there are enough conditions and requirements of services for the cooperative members and the households in the surrounding areas, or the cooperatives that get involved in concentrated production if the cooperative members request and have the full condition as stipulated by the law on cooperatives. To form the cooperative teams or cooperatives that specialize in giving services of technical supply for the production households with the important technical elements, such as the supply of water (irrigation), plant seeds, animal breeds, earth working, plant protection products as required  by the farmer households in each locality. To encourage the development of the diverse forms of cooperative economy in the fishermen’s communities in the coastal areas in terms of exploitation, culture, processing, services, in search of fishing grounds, protection of production on the sea. Cooperation is carried out among those people who have capital, have fishing boats, fishing nets and technique so that they can pool their capital to make investment in developing cooperatives and cooperative teams.

In the industrial, handicraft and building fields: To creat conditions to develop the cooperatives according to sectors and jobs with strong position; attention is paid to the rural areas where there are the on-the-spot human resources and materials. To develop the cooperatives that process and sell the agricultural-forestry-fishries products which are able to be sold at home and for export. To develop extensively the cooperatives in construction, consumption of civil electricity, development and environmental protection and other forms of cooperatives that meet the requirements of necessary social services in conformity with  the concrete situation in localities. At the same time, importance is attached to renewing equipment and facilities, in close association between modern technology and traditional technology and step by step modernize the production process of the cooperatives and the cooperative teams.

In the transport field: To develop the transport cooperatives in accordance with the model of cooperatives that give support services and the transport cooperatives, to organize the network of transport and repair of the facilities in each locality in order to combine “supply” with “demand” in transport, with the diverse, safe and civilized means in conformity with the economic, social and custom conditions, to form a number of transport trade unionsand associations as to create the linkage among the transport cooperatives with a view to raising productivity and effectiveness of operation in the transport area.

In the trade-service field: The trade-service cooperatives develop in accordance with the practical economic and social requirements and the development level as well as the demands of the consumers, of the small business households, without being dependent on the administrative boundary, possibly the village, commune boundary or the inter-village, inter-commune, inter-hamlet boundaries. In the rural areas, it is mainly to develop cooperatives involved in agricultural services and business trading activities which comprise the input, output” services for the farmers’ and consumer goods suppliers’ households for the rural inhabitants. In the market towns where there are markets with many households doing petty trade, so it is possible to gide them to set up the trade cooperatives to help each other concerning the provision of price information, creating the sources of goods and settling the risks in the trading process.

In the credit field: To build the system of people’s credit funds, ensure the safe, effective and strong operation in terms of organization, close linkage in the system from the Central to the grass-root levels, while attaching importance to quality as the main, and the new funds can only be developed when there are enough conditions and criteria and when it is possible to control and manage them, and in the immediate future, it is to concentrate on the operation in the rural areas as the main and the areas of the market towns where there are the agricultural-forestry-fisheries economic structures and the cottage industry, services which have the requirements of large credit and are capable of mobilizing the on-the-spot capital.

As for the urban and suburban areas: These are the densely-populated areas, the commodities production, people’s cultural standards are developed, so it is necessary to pay attention to developing cooperatives in the fields of production and business, in the production services and in the life and building services.

As for the rural areas: To promote the development of the forms of cooperatives and cooperative teams of “input, output” services of the labourers in order to supply services to the requirements of agricultural production, at the same time link the labourers to the production organizations of the State and other economic sectors (in the relationship between agricultural production and the processing industry and products consumption).

As for the midland and mountainous areas: To attach importance to developing the forms of simple cooperation among the households in order to resolve the requirements of self-support production that needs the support of the State to develop the collective economy, in which it is to concentrate on giving technical support simultanesously with the solution to create the livelihoods, jobs, ensure social security, eradicate hunger and reduce poverty.

Thirdly, to mobilize and use effectively the resources to develop the collective economy:

- To urgently amend and add the 2012 Law on Cooperatives to create the open and transparent legal framewpork to encourage and support the development of the collective economy, cooperatives, to set up the favourable, healthy, equal investment and business environment, to promote the renovation and innovation, “to reform the administrative procedures in a resolute, synchronous, effective manner, to remove the barriers that limit the business freedom, to improve and raise the quality of business environment, to ensure the healthy, equal and transparent competition” (3).

Prioritizing the development of cooperatives in the agricultural and rural areas, to promote cooperation and linkage in production and consumption of farm produce, to connect it to the global consumption system, to give instrumental support to the household and farm economy for development, to accelerate the economic, cultural, social, environmental development and social order in the rural areas. To create favourable conditions for the organizations of the collective economy to be proactive in striving forwards to overcome all the difficulties, to quickly tide over all the limitations and weaknesses, to consolidate the organizations, to improve the managing, operating capacities and operational effectiveness, to bring into full play the inherent advantages of the organization of the collective economy so as to enhance the competitiveness.

-To review, perfect and organize the good implementation of the policies on supporting the development of the collective economy, especially the policy on land and investment; the policy on cadres and training of human resources, improving the level of cadres who manage production and business, to expand the market; the policies on inventives and support in finance-credit, science-technology and market. To have the policy on support and incentives for the organization of the collective economy that operates in the agricultural and rural areas and the cooperative members who are the poor farmers, the ethnic minorities people, and the people living in the remote areas, in the boder areas and on the islands. To handle definitely the debts of the cooperatives, to perfect the procedures of forced dissolution and shift them to other organizational form, with the sanction to treat the violations suitable to the concrete situation.

To improve the capacities of organization and operation of the cooperatives, to link production and consumption in accordance with the value chain in order to protect environment, creat jbos and raise the members’ income. To discover in time, commend and reward, summarize the models of cooperatives that operate effectively, step by step affirm that the collective and cooperative economy is an important element, making a contribution to the economic and social development.

Fourthly, to determine clearly the role andresponsibilities of the party committee levels, the administrations, cadres and party members in developing the eollcdtive economy.

- All the party committee levels, administrations, cadres and party members, especially the heads of each ministry and sector at the Central and local levels, must determine clearly the responsibilities in the leadership, guidance and organization of implementing the resolutions and stipulations of the law, policies on the development of the collective economy, considering it the important and regular responsibilities and one of the critical responsnbilities of the strategy of the economic and social development and the guarantee of national defence and security.

- All the party committee levels, administrations, the Fatherland Front, the mass organizations will continue to renew the mode of study, thoroughly grasp and organize the good implementation of all the viewpoints and tasks, continue to renew, develop and raise the effectiveness of the collective economy, taking the collective economy to really become the important economic sector, contributing to together the State-run economy to becoming an ever firmer foundation of the national economy. To enhance the research work, make it clearer the theoretical and practical basis on the collective economy and cooperatives, to apply creatively in realities and take measures of replicating the organizational models of advanced collective economic units.

- To perfect and improve the capacities and effectiveness of the operation of the system of the State managing apparatus of the collective economy, ensure the efrfectiveness, effieiency, concdntration and unification from the Central to the local levels. TH determine clearly the function, tasks, responsibilities, rights and mechanisms of coordination of the ministries, committees, sectors and mass organizations from the Central to the local levels and have the suitable policy on cadres in developing the collective economy. Attention is paid to training, fostering and having the suitable policy on cadres to ensure the improvement of quality and the effective use of the human resources in developing the collective economy. To enhance the inspection, examination, supervision and timely treatment of the violations of the law on the collective economy.

- The Fatherland Front and the mass organizations coordinate closely in organizing the implementation of the support policies on developing the collective economy and the cooperative economy. To promote the role of the Vietnam Cooperatives’ Alliance in propaganda, mobilization, persuasion and effective use of the resources to develop coopratives./.

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(1), (2) The documents of the 13^th National Party Congress, the National Political Publishing House Su That, Hanoi, 2021, tomb I, p. 129, 129-130

(3) The documents of the 13^th National Party Congress, Ibid, tomb I, p. 224

This article was published in the Communist Review No. 993 (July 2022)