National Congress to shape nation’s fortunes

January 25, 2021 | 10:12
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The 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, beginning next week, will determine the country’s vital issues over the next five years and beyond and make way for Vietnam to flourish further.
national congress to shape nations fortunes
The capital of Hanoi has been draped in red and yellow to welcome delegates to the upcoming Party Congress, Photo: Duc Thanh

As a key political event for the Party, the state, and the people of Vietnam held every five years, the National Party Congress sets critical milestones in Party-building and nation building processes.

The 13th edition will be convened between January 25 and February 2 at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi. The preparatory session is scheduled to take place on January 25, and the opening ceremony will begin the following morning.

The Congress will discuss and adopt the Political Report, which is the event’s keynote document; the wrap-up report of the 10-year Socioeconomic Development Strategy for 2011-2020 and building of the follow-up strategy for 2021-2030; the assessment report of the 5-year Socioeconomic Development Plan for 2016-2020 and orientations and mandates for the next 5-year plan for 2021-2025; the wrap-up report of Party-building work and implementation of the 12th National Party Congress’s Statute; the review report of the 12th National Party Congress’ Central Committee; and also the election of the 13th National Party Congress’ Central Committee (2021-2026 tenure) – the highest leadership apparatus of the Party in between two national congresses.

The drafts put forward specific objectives. By 2025, it is hoped that Vietnam will become a modernity-oriented industrialised developing country and graduate from the lower-middle income group. By 2030, also the centenary of the founding of the Party, Vietnam will become a developing country with modern industry and join the upper-middle income group. By 2045, the centenary of the nation’s founding, it is hoped Vietnam will become a developed and a high-income country.

A total number of 1,587 deputies will attend the 13th National Party Congress, representing more than five million Party members. There are 191 automatically qualified deputies who are incumbent members of the Party Central Committee, or around 12 per cent.

As many as 1,381 deputies are elected at the Party congresses subordinate to the Party Central Committee, around 87 per cent. Fifteen are designated deputies, while deputies with a Master’s degree or above account for nearly 68 per cent.

Apart from official deputies, the Party Central Committee also invited former members of the Central Committee of the third to seventh Party congresses, heroic Vietnamese mothers, representatives from the intelligentsia, artists, religious dignitaries, and exemplary youth figures to the Congress.

According to the World Bank, which has a positive view on Vietnam’s economy, the country’s development over the past 30 years has been remarkable.

Economic and political reforms under doi moi, launched in 1986, have spurred rapid economic growth, transforming what was then one of the world’s poorest nations into a lower middle-income country. Between 2002 and 2020, GDP per capita increased by nearly three times, reaching $3,521 in 2020, and more than 45 million people were lifted out of poverty. The poverty rate declined sharply from over 70 per cent to about 2.75 per cent last year, when the near-poverty rate sat at about 4 per cent.

Statistics from the Ministry of Planning showed that by late 2020, the Vietnamese economy’s GDP reached a record level of $343 billion.

“Vietnam has after nearly 35 years of doi moi transformed itself from being an underdeveloped country with an outdated material-technological base, backward socioeconomic infrastructures, and a low level of development into a middle-income developing country,” said Party General Secretary, State President Nguyen Phu Trong at a ceremony held in Hanoi last February to celebrate the 90th founding anniversary of the Party. “With that, Vietnam has seen its culture and society continuously developed, its population’s material and spiritual living standards improved, breakthroughs in Party-building and the building of political system achieved, all-nation unity unceasingly consolidated, its political and social situation stabilised, its national defense, security, independence, and sovereignty firmly maintained, and its status and prestige in the international arena increasingly elevated.”

“In view of the great achievements attained, we are well-grounded to confirm that never has our country enjoyed such fortunes, potential, status, and prestige as they are today,” he stressed.

Hoang Binh Quan - Chairman, Communist Party of Vietnam’s External Relations Commission

Preparations for new personnel of the 13th Party Central Committee were carried out in a thorough, diligent, cohesive, and step-by-step manner to ensure democracy, objectiveness, and impartiality according to due process.

The 13th Party Central Committee must truly be a united, clean, and strong collective, consistent in its will and action, and firm in its political resolve. Its members must uphold moral integrity, and commit themselves to national independence and socialism. They must be of exemplary minds, strategic in vision, and innovative in thought.

They must also represent the Party in combat-readiness and discipline and maintain close ties to the people. They must keep an open mind, engage in serious self-criticism and criticism, enable the unity and solidarity of the Party and people, and have the necessary credibility and capacity for leadership in the new era.

With regard to organisation, to ensure eligibility the 13th Party Central Committee will have a suitable membership and structure for well-rounded leadership with continuity, stability, and an orientation for innovation and development. The number of Party Central Committee members in critical positions, localities, and areas will be increasing. Attention will also be given to raising the ratio of young, female, and ethnic minority party cadres.

The quality of candidates for leadership positions is also much better. These candidates have greater academic and political ideological competence. They are in a younger age group, with a much higher number of candidates being females or originating from ethnic minorities in comparison with the previous terms.

In fact, all members graduated from universities and colleges, while 3,493 out of 3,504 members earned their certificates in high-level political theories.

Sengphet Houngboungnuang - Laotian Ambassador to Vietnam

Over the past 90 years, the Party has led the Vietnamese people to win many big achievements. It led the whole country to national unification in 1975, and then led the nation to conduct two major causes including national construction and national protection.

The Vietnamese economy has grown from strength to strength since then. The building of the Party and the whole political system has also harvested many important achievements, with the state of the people, by the people, and for the people constructed successfully. Vietnam’s role and status in the international arena have significantly been enhanced.

Despite massive difficulties in 2020 caused by COVID-19 and natural disasters, the Party committee congresses have been organised successfully. The Party has made careful preparations for the 13th National Party Congress in a democratic and transparent manner.

Saadi Salama - Palestinian Ambassador to Vietnam

This will be the third time I have had an opportunity to attend Vietnam’s National Party Congress. During the 12th Party Central Committee, Vietnam has reaped numerous significant socioeconomic development achievements.

I do believe that the 13th National Party Congress will chart a way forward for future orientations and strategic visions for Vietnam, so that the country can attain new big achievements, especially in the context of uncertainties and massive difficulties caused by COVID-19. Vietnam’s policies are quite clear and sound, helping all people including foreigners in Vietnam feel safe.

We hope that the 13th National Party Congress will become quite successful, and that Vietnam will continue fostering its close and fine relationship with other nations in the world.

By Thanh Thu

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