At its 11th Plenum, the Party Central Committee (13th tenure) agreed on the theme of the 14th Congress as: “Under the glorious flag of the Party, join hands and effort, determine to successfully implement the country's development goals for 2030; be self-reliant, confident, and advance strongly in the era of national development, for peace, independence, democracy, wealth, prosperity, civilisation, happiness, and steadily move towards socialism”. This is such a sound orientation, demonstrating the intellect, vision, goals, and political determination of the entire Party, people, and Military in the new era.
The 14th National Party Congress is scheduled for early 2026. This is an important political event of the Party and a great event of the country; a special milestone on the path of development, opening a new era, the “era of national development”. Therefore, the theme determined as above is totally sound and correct, as it both contains the main ideas in the Congress documents, and serves as the major orientations, guiding ideas, goals and key tasks that our Party, people and Military should implement during the next term. In terms of structure, it is short, concise, clear, and very driving.
It has been proven in the history of the Vietnamese revolution that the Party's leadership has always been the decisive factor to all victories of the Vietnamese revolution. Our country has been unified for 50 years, gone through nearly 40 years of renovation and halfway of the 10-year socio-economic development strategy for the 2021 – 2030 period. The cause of national construction and defence has achieved great achievements of historical significance; the theory on socialism and the path to socialism has been shaped and proven correct in practice. The great achievements after unification and renovation provide a firm foundation and conditions for Vietnam to realise its strategic vision, enter the new era, an era of national growth, build a peaceful, independent, democratic, prosperous, civilised, happy Vietnam, and steadily advance towards socialism.
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| An illustrative photo (Source: baohatinh.vn) |
“After 40 years of renovation, our country has achieved great and historic achievements; independence, national sovereignty and a peaceful environment are always maintained; socio-political situation is stable; the economy has been increasingly developed, national defence and security have been firmly safeguarded, people's lives have been constantly improved, etc.”. “After 40 years of renovation, Vietnam has become the 4th largest economy in ASEAN, and the 32nd one in the world. By 2025, its GDP per capita has increased nearly 25 times after three decades”. The country has its position, prestige and overall strength increasingly consolidated and enhanced.
After 50 years of reunification, Vietnam has still maintained its independence, sovereignty, unity, territorial integrity and socialist orientation. The leadership role of the Party is maintained; the effective management role of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is enhanced; the mastery of the People is promoted, and national interests are ensured on the basis of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter, international laws, equality, cooperation and mutual benefit. Political security, social order and safety, and information security have been ensured; national defence and security potential have been strengthened; situations have been flexibly, proactively and effectively handled to maintain the peaceful and stable environment for national development. The elements of politics, spirit, economy, culture, society, are constantly consolidated, and enhanced, ... creating a synergy for national development, while defeating all plots and tricks of sabotage of hostile forces, contributing significantly to the success of the cause of building and firmly defending the Fatherland.
In addition, foreign relations have been expanded, international integration have been increasingly effective. Vietnam has clearly proved itself to be a friend, a reliable partner, and a responsible member of the international community. Its position and prestige in the international arena have been increasingly affirmed and enhanced. “Party diplomacy, state diplomacy and people-to-people diplomacy have been expanded, deepening relations with partners, particularly neighbouring countries, major countries and traditional friends. To date, Vietnam has established and upgraded the level of relations with 194 countries, including 12 comprehensive strategic partnerships, 8 strategic partnerships and 14 comprehensive partnerships”.
The renovation launched and led by our Party is a historic choice, a great creative cause of historical stature, of great significance, in line with Vietnam's reality, the laws and main development trends of the times. Thanks to this cause, the political, economic, cultural, social, scientific - technological, educational - training, medical, physical, educational, sports, defence - security, foreign affairs potentials of our country have been constantly improved, etc. 50 years of national unification have brought about a new foundation, potential, position, international prestige, and new vision for our country to enter the era of the national rise.
In that context, the 11th Central Plenum (13th tenure) of the Party unanimously took the theme of the 14th Congress as: "Under the glorious flag of the Party, join hands and effort, determine to successfully implement the country's development goals for 2030; be self-reliant, confident, and advance strongly in the era of national development, for peace, independence, democracy, wealth, prosperity, civilisation, happiness, and steadily move towards socialism". This theme consists of two separate parts, dialectically related to each other, being the premise and condition of each other; two steps, two sides of a unified entity that must be carried out in parallel. At the same time, they both share a key and decisive part: "Under the glorious flag of the Party".
“Under the glorious flag of the Party”, the whole country, the whole nation, and the whole political system “join hand, unanimously determine to successfully implement the country’s development goals for 2030”. “Under the glorious flag of the Party”, over 100 million people act as one, be “self-reliant, confident to grow strongly in the era of national rise, for peace, independence, democracy, wealth, prosperity, civilisation, happiness, steadily moving towards socialism”. “Joining hand, stay united...” is a very important premise and condition for “self-reliant, confident to grow strongly in the era of national rise,… steadily moving towards socialism”; At the same time, “self-reliance, self-confidence,…” is the solid foundation, basis, goal, and strategic orientation for us to have the motivation, strong political determination, and drastic actions to “join hands and determine to successfully implement the country’s development goals for 2030”.
During the 14th National Party Congress, we will have to try our best to successfully implement the country’s development goals for 2030. Therefore, we must determine to firmly maintain and protect the peace, independence, and sovereignty of the country; build a rich, prosperous, and strong nation for the people to enjoy civilisation and happiness, and for the country steadily moves towards socialism.
To achieve the above goals, in his closing speech at the 11th Plenum (13th tenure), General Secretary To Lam emphasised: The Party Central Committee is highly agreed on the need to immediately implement a number of major solutions that have been unanimously approved in the draft documents, and concretised in the documents for the 2025-2030 term, including: (i) The highest goal of the 14th National Party Congress is to decide on strategic issues to ensure "stability, development and improvement of people's lives; all viewpoints, goals, tasks and solutions in the draft documents must be unified, synchronous, consistent and generate a combined strength to achieve this goal. (ii) The high requirements of the coming period are "high-quality development, rapid and sustainable development", "proactive, self-reliant and autonomous in development". (iii) Determine to "establish a new growth model" and "build a modern national education system on par with the region and the world". In the new growth model, science and technology, innovation and national digital transformation are considered as the main driving force, private economy sector is the most important driving force of the national economy; strengthening the leadership role of the Party and the State's management of private economy.
General Secretary To Lam affirmed that: The world is in a period of epochal change. 2025-2030 is a period of important strategic opportunities, the sprint stage of the Vietnamese revolution to achieve the 100-year strategic goals under the leadership of the Party, creating a solid premise to achieve the goals for the celebration of 100th founding anniversary of the country. The epochal changes bring us new opportunities and advantages, but also pose many challenges. The Fourth industrial revolution, especially artificial intelligence and digital technology, brings opportunities that developing and underdeveloped countries can seize to take the shortcut to develop rapidly.
It has been shown in the history of the Vietnamese revolution that, under the Party's wise and talented leadership, when the will of self-reliance, self-control, self-confidence, self-strengthening, and national pride are awakened, and the strength of the entire people is mobilised together with the strength of the times, the Vietnamese revolutionary boat will achieve new miracles. Now is the time that the Party's will coincides with the people's hearts in the aspiration to build a prosperous, happy and socialist country, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers. Therefore, it can be concluded that the theme of the 14th National Party Congress determined as above is totally sound and correct. It is the crystallisation of the wisdom of the entire Party, people, and Military, containing the main ideas in the entire documents of the congress. At the same time, it is the "convergence", the guiding flag, the platform for action of the entire Party, people, and Military to bring the country into the era of rich, prosperous, powerful, and happy development.
Assoc. Prof., Dr. VU VAN PHUC, Former Editor-in-Chief of the Communist Review