12th National Party Congress kicks off in Hanoi

Opening the event, State President Trương Tấn Sang emphasized the importance of the 12th National Party Congress. The party and the people have achieved significant results since the 11th party congress. Delegates will discuss and approve several important documents, including the 11th Party Central Committee’s Political Report; a report reviewing the implementation of socio-economic development tasks during 2011-2015; directives and tasks for 2016-2020; and a report reviewing the leadership of the 11th Party Central Committee

"The 12th national party congress will showcase Vietnam's solidarity, democracy, integrity and strong will to renovate. It embodies Vietnamese people's courage and determination to turn Vietnam into a democratic and equitable nation heading towards socialism." - State President Truong Tan Sang.

At the opening session this morning, Party chief Nguyễn Phú Trọng spoke about the core content of the documents submitted to the congress. He dedicated the first part to the lessons drawn from 30 years of doi moi period, with specific highlights on the achievements for the past five years.

"Our economy has overcome numerous challenges to main growth, control inflation. Vietnam is on its path to change its economic development model. Education and training, science and technology, culture and healthcare have all witnessed improvement. Social welfare has gained more attention so people's livelihood has improved. Vietnam's political climate, national safety and security and sovereignty have been protected and maintained. Vietnam's position in the international arena has been improved." - Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong

The party chief also pointed out the targets Vietnam should strive forward for the next five years including rapid and sustainable growth, industrialization and modernization, protecting the national peace and stability, enhancing the effectiveness of diplomatic activities, actively integrating the economy to the regional and global markets.

"First, we must continue building the party and prevent any moral degeneration within the party. More attention should be given to strategic government personnel so we can have competent and highly-moral government officials. Secondly, there needs to be a streamlining in the organization of the party to fight against corruption and improve efficiency of the party. Thirdly, Vietnam should work on ways to improve its labor productivity and competitiveness and at the same time restructuring state-owned enterprises, state-owned banks, tackling bad debts and public debts issues. Next, we have to continue our efforts to protect the country's sovereignty and national safety and security. Fifth, we need to gather resources from all sectors in oder to  improve the livelihood of the people." - Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.

The Party General Secretary noted that the 12th congress is a congress of “Solidarity-Democracy-Discipline-Renovation”, reflecting the strong will and resolution of the nation as a whole to build Vietnam into a strong country with prosperous people, democratic, fair and civilized society, advancing firmly to socialism.