CVFA chief highlights role of 14th National Party Congress

In an interview with a Vietnam News correspondent in the Czech Republic, Milos Kosy, president of the Czech–Vietnamese Friendship Association (CVFA), said the 14^th National Party Congress would reaffirm existing policy directions while setting development orientations that will influence Vietnam’s trajectory in the years ahead, ahead of the event taking place in Hanoi from January 19 to 25.

Kosy said the congress carried strategic importance for Vietnam’s next stage of development, while also playing a key role in personnel arrangements, ensuring continuity in governance, and reinforcing the Party’s ideological foundations and legitimacy.

“Beyond its domestic significance, the congress also has important foreign and regional implications, sending a clear signal about the role Vietnam aspires to play in Southeast Asia over the long term,” he said.

Reflecting on the Communist Party of Vietnam’s leadership, Milos Kosy said the past four decades since the launch of economic reforms in the 1980s represented “a period of profound historical significance” for the country’s development and stability.

He noted that the Party’s most important contribution during this time was its early recognition of the limits of the centrally planned economic model and its pragmatic decision to pursue reforms towards a socialist-oriented market economy. This shift, he said, was reflected in Vietnam’s opening to trade and foreign investment, sharp reductions in poverty, sustained GDP growth, accelerating industrialisation, and rising living standards.

“These achievements demonstrate the Party’s ideological flexibility in adjusting policy to practical development realities,” Kosy said, adding that the maintenance of political stability and continuity in governance had been another critical factor underpinning Vietnam’s progress.

This factor has created new advantages for long-term strategic planning in areas such as infrastructure, education, and industrialisation. The stability and predictability of the system have also helped strengthen the confidence of foreign investors in Vietnam’s investment environment.

Turning to bilateral relations, Kosy noted that Vietnam and the Czech Republic established diplomatic ties in 1950, which were strengthened by solidarity during wartime and have since expanded across areas such as politics, education, and culture.

Relations were elevated to a Strategic Partnership during Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh’s official visit to the Czech Republic last January, marking the first time Vietnam has formed such a partnership with a country in Central and Eastern Europe. Current cooperation focuses on areas including trade, defence, security, and scientific research.

Two-way trade has grown strongly, reaching a record level of more than $4 billion in 2024 and 2025, making the Czech Republic Vietnam’s largest partner in Central and Eastern Europe, while Vietnam has become an important partner of the Czech Republic within ASEAN.

“Under the Party’s leadership, Vietnam will continue to develop and further deepen Czech–Vietnam relations, while steadily strengthening the strategic partnership between the two countries,” said Kosy.

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