HÀ NỘI — The Communist Party has asked all provinces to not celebrate Tết (Lunar New Year) with fireworks so that the budget can be utilised to help the poor.

Đinh Thế Huynh, politburo member and standing member of the Party Central Committee Secretariat, signed an order banning all party and government officials from giving gifts to their superiors “under any means”, while top leaders and government organisations and agencies at the central level have been restricted from paying New Year visits to various localities.

Authorities should take care of the poor, people living on the islands and in the border areas, particularly those who suffered loss from the recent floods in the central region and the Formosa environmental disaster, the order said.