“Public officials or civil servants who do not meet the required qualifications and are unable to smile when working with the public should be dismissed,” said the secretary of the Party Committee of the southern province of Dong Thap. Secretary Le Vinh Tan made the warning when speaking about what should be done to maintain and enhance the province’s competitive capability. Last year, Dong Thap topped the country in the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI), but there remain many major issues that need to be solved soon so that the province can continue to improve its PCI, Tan said.          Every civil servant, especially those of province and district levels, must practice smiling with people when working with them. They are also required to be able to understand and identify with the public. At the same time, they should continue studying to improve their knowledge and skills so that they can work more effectively and efficiently. The secretary also revealed that the provincial authorities will dismiss about 100 public servants in communes by 2015 since these officials do not meet the required qualifications for their work.

Meanwhile, thirty new communes of the province will see 100 percent of the public servants in their administration apparatus hold a university-level degree. The provincial authorities expect to spend more than VND30 billion (US$1.43 million) on expenses related to improving the quality of commune-level cadres. Of the amount, VND12.65 billion will be used as redundancy payment, Tan said.