Vietnam has reaped the fruits of the cause of renovation initiated and led by our Party in nearly 40 years. Those historic extraordinary achievements lay a solid foundation, give a new incentive, and cement the faith for our entire Party, Military, and people to keep stepping up the renovation cause and successfully build socialism.

In the process of creating the country’s fortune, potential, position, and prestige, our Party has initiated and directly led the cause of renovation with sound, creative guidelines and policies, thereby bringing about extremely tremendous achievements. In nearly 40 years, the cause of renovation has been really integrated into the country’s destiny, become familiar to each of us, and obviously attracted the attention from international friends. In fact, in revolutionary periods, we always conducted renovation. However, the current renovation is more comprehensive and profound; it was carefully prepared and has been carried out methodically. It should be said that the cause of renovation is our job on our own way and under our own steps. It is an indispensable creative process, and it must be widely, deeply, and synchronously implemented; nevertheless, specific steps should be considered as it is still new.

Renovation is both the replacement of the old and the selection of the old which is currently suitable to make it more adaptable and useful. Renovation could be seen as a dialectical negation. Renovation is aimed at development; it is synonymous with development, but that development is stable and follows the orientations and path we have selected. In the process, someone advises us to more quickly and strongly privatise all socio-economic sectors as well as more robustly, profoundly, comprehensively integrate into the world. No matter how sincere that advice is, we can not follow it. More than anyone else, we clearly understand our country’s real situation; more importantly, we conduct renovation with our own principles and without any intent to change the nature of our regime. Renovation represents a transition from a centralised, bureaucratic, subsidised mechanism to a market mechanism. However, while implementing the market mechanism, the State must exercise socialist-oriented management and operation and avoid the float of the market. Renovation is to develop the country, but that development must go hand in hand with social equality and against the divide between rich and poor. Renovation is associated with international integration; it is also connected with national industrialisation and modernisation. International integration, open-door policy, and national industrialisation and modernisation are all aimed at implementing the strategy for rapid and sustainable development, building and enhancing productive forces, consolidating and developing productive relationships, and bringing our country’s status to a new height. In other words, renovation is aimed at socialism or making the transition towards socialism increasingly clearer.

The mid-term meeting of the Party Central Committee (13th tenure)

Renovation and reform are all aimed at new, better things. However, reform is often understood as certain actions and campaigns to achieve certain objectives. When those actions and campaigns have reached their objectives, new ones must be launched. Meanwhile, renovation, by the way we see, due to its nature and inevitability, is a long-term process. Renovation is like a constant flow and movement of the machinery of the society, initiated, launched, and led by the Communist Party of Vietnam. At the Party’s National Congresses, from the 7^th to the 13^th, our Party advocated continuing to step up the renovation cause to move the country forward, and at the upcoming 14^th Congress, it will be reaffirmed. That appeal is consistent with the requirements set by reality and the people’s aspirations.

Renovation is a process of huge and practical transformation. Renovation helped remove wrong perceptions, particularly dogmatism and subjectivism and gradually form new concepts about goals, steps, and approaches towards national development, economic restructuring, and changes in the mechanisms of economic and social management. Renovation has liberated productive forces, strengthened new productive relationships, enabled our country to graduate from the low-income status; the people’s life has been considerably improved, politico-social stability has been ensured, socialist orientation has been maintained, the Party’s leadership has been enhanced, defence and security have been consolidated, and foreign relations have been expanded and stepped up.

It is renovation that transformed Vietnam from a rice importer into the second largest rice exporter in the world. The pace of development and change from rural to urban areas, from mountainous to plain areas, has never been rapid and robust like it is today. The living and working style of every family and citizen in Vietnam has never been new and fresh like it is today. Renovation has allowed us to inherit and bring into play the achievements gained before as well as to have ways of thinking, listening, seeing, and doing different from the past but suitable for the current development. Renovation has brought new strength to our country and empowered us to take firm steps on the path towards the goal of rich people, strong nation, democracy, equality, and civilisation.

Over the past 37 years of renovation, our country has obtained historic tremendous achievements in the building of socialism and the protection of the socialist Fatherland. Vietnam escaped its socio-economic crisis and underdevelopment, became a middle-income nation, and is accelerating industrialisation, modernisation, and international integration. The economic growth rate is quite high, the socialist-oriented market economy has been gradually formed and developed, politico-social stability has been maintained, defence and security have been strengthened, culture has witnessed development, the face of the country and the people’s life have been positively changed. Socialist democracy has been promoted and increasingly expanded. The national great unity block has been cemented. The building of the Party, socialist rule-of-law State, and political system has been enhanced. The country’s power in all fields has been strengthened. Independence, sovereignty, unification, and territorial integrity as well as the socialist regime have been maintained. Foreign ties have been increasingly expanded and deepened. Vietnam’s position and prestige in the international arena have been raised.

According to the Political Report of the 13^th National Party Congress: “Looking back at the 35-year renovation cause and the 30-year implementation of the Platform on National Construction in the Transitional Period towards Socialism, theories about renovation, socialism, and the path to socialism have been increasingly completed and gradually realised. The country has obtained historic significant achievements and more robust, comprehensive development than before renovation. The size and quality of the economy have been raised. The people’s mental and material life have considerably improved. Our country has never had such fortune, potential, position, and prestige as it does today. This is the pride, motivation, important resources, and faith for the entire Party, Military, and people to overcome difficulties and challenges to remain firm on the path of comprehensive, synchronous renovation and sustainable national development”. Those achievements lay an important prerequisite for our country’s upcoming renovation and development, proving that the path to socialism is in accordance with Vietnam’s practical conditions and the history’s development trend.

Those above-mentioned achievements are the result of our Party’s sound renovation-related guidelines which are in accordance with the people’s benefits and aspirations and supported by the people. Our Party has creatively applied and developed Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, inherited and brought into play national tradition and the quintessence of human race, and employed lessons learnt by other countries in accordance with Vietnam; it also remains steadfast in the goal of national independence and socialism. At the same time, it has creatively, opportunely devised proper guidelines and strategies in each revolutionary period against changes in global and domestic situations. The majority of cadres, party members, and citizens have strived to surmount difficulties and challenges and realise renovation guidelines. The renovation cause has been supported by international friends.

However, in the process of renovation, we know that our country is still poor; the development of our economy has yet to be sustainable, its efficiency and competitiveness are still low, many elements act as barriers to rapid and sustainable growth. There are many risks of instability. Apparently, apart from opportunities and advantages, there will be difficulties and challenges ahead. That has caused concerns about the following phases of the country’s renovation. Besides, discontented elements, opportunists, and hostile forces have released flagrant distortions of our renovation cause. They have stressed that “renovation is out of date, has no more motivation, and exhausts its resources; therefore, the country is unable to continue renovation anymore”. That requires the whole Party, Military, people, and political system to fully perceive opportunities and challenges and avoid falling into complacency, subjectivity or pessimism. It is vital to build up determination, faith, and aspirations to continue enhancing comprehensive, synchronous renovation for the development of a prosperous, civilised, happy nation via hands-on experience and scientific arguments.

If we consider motivations and resources as factors that create the strength for development, motivations for continuous renovation could be clarified as follows.

First, the factor that inspires motivations for renovation is the sound orientation and timely launch. We advocate that renovation must follow socialist orientation. The sound orientation for renovation in accordance with the situation, principles, and people’s aspirations will create certainty and confidence. As we carefully prepared and launched renovation at the right time, we were proactive and creative in every situation; we stayed firm and developed, while renovation in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe had failed.

Second, the achievements of renovation bring new vitality, motivation, position, strength, and acceleration to our country. New position and strength represent a combination of significant socio-economic achievements; they are the result of the all-round development with domestic openness and expanded cooperation with the world. New acceleration is extraordinary capacity; it is high continuous growth rate as the momentum for the following phase. New position, strength, and acceleration create new capabilities for the country. In this case, renovation is filled with new energy.

Third, the key factor is domestic motivations and resources. The important driving force serving and accelerating renovation is combined by domestic resources, including not only accumulated capital and assets but also unused resources; they include geo-economic and geo-political advantages and more importantly human resources with intellectual labour and mental strength deriving from national culture and tradition. Amongst those resources, our natural resources are quite rich, our geographical position is rather favourable, our traditional resources are profound and specific, our human and intellectual resources are extremely enormous.

Fourth, external resources as an important factor will create motivation for renovation if we know how to take advantage of them. External resources include capital, technology, managerial experience, knowledge, the quintessence of human culture. When we have to promote all domestic resources available, we qualify for attracting external resources. Thanks to proper steps, measures, and preferential treatment policies, we will certainly strongly encourage economic, cultural, scientific, technical cooperation with other countries on a win-win basis.

Fifth, the Party’s will is in accordance with the people’s aspirations. This is the decisive motivation for the renovation cause. That motivation derives from our Party and people’s creativity and knowledge, which is manifested in the capacity to anticipate and grasp elements and issues of the times, clearly establish guidelines and steps, readily seize opportunities, and overcome risks and challenges to move the country forward. As renovation is carried out on the basis of harmony between the Party’s will and the people’s aspirations, it is wholeheartedly supported by the people as a strong motivation for its efficiency.

Obviously, our renovation cause has gained great achievements not only in nearly 40 years, but it will continue to be enhanced with rich and enormous resources, including some never-ending ones. The journey of renovation with harmony between the Party’s will and the people’s aspirations has been combining three elements, namely timing, advantage, and people’s concord with one another. And those factors serve as the core motivation for us to keep remaining firm on the path of comprehensive, synchronous renovation towards the building of a strong, prosperous, civilised, happy country and socialism.

Prof. VU VAN HIEN, PhD.