The theme of the 13th National Party Congress “Solidarity – Democracy – Discipline – Creativity – Development” demonstrates the bravery, resilience and determination of the whole nation to move forward for a country of Vietnam with rich people, strong country, democracy, equity, civilization and sustainable development. It is considered a guideline for thinking, strategies, actions and aspirations of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), the State and the people.
Solidarity is strength
During 35 years of renovation, under the leadership of the CPV, being united, Vietnamese people have strived, overcome difficulties and challenges, taken opportunities to make great achievements of historical significance.
Solidarity is a culture crystallized from generations in Vietnam. It creates an incomparable strength which provides self-reliance in the times of hardship and danger. It is clearly seen in the context of the complexity and unpredictability of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 which has seriously affected many fields in society and the people’s lives. With national solidarity, efforts of all agencies, especially armed forces and heath workers, and the spirit of “fighting the epidemic like fighting the enemy”, “no one left behind”, Vietnam has made achievements in the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic while promoting socio-economic development, which is highly appreciated by international communities as a good practice. It is a lively manifestation of Vietnam’s patriotism and strength of the great national unity bloc.
The world is now witnessing increasingly rapid, complicated and unpredictable developments, fierce strategic competitions between major countries including geopolitical and economic competitions, traditional and non-traditional security issues which affect peace, stability and development of all countries. Vietnam is facing many difficulties and challenges. The problems of degradation of morality and lifestyle, manifestations of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation” of a number of cadres and party members; bureaucracy, corruption and wastefulness exist in the country and cause instability, reduce public trust in the Party’s leadership and government as well as the great national unity bloc. To deal with these problems requires solidarity, great efforts, and unity between the Party, the State and the people.
Solidarity is a precious tradition that makes up our nation’s invincible strength throughout the history of nation building and defense. Strengthening the will and solidarity ensure sustainable victory of the cause of the national construction and defense. The people’s trust and support is the foundation of the great national unity bloc. Supervision of the National Assembly and Vietnam Fatherland Front at all levels, the Party’s leadership, the State’s management and the national solidarity are the key to the success.
President Ho Chi Minh’s saying of “unity, unity, great unity; success, success, great success” still retains its theoretical and practical values and are applied in building the great national unity bloc. It also provides a source of power to promote innovation and international integration of the country.
Democracy should go hand in hand with discipline
Promoting people’s right to mastery is the nature of the regime in Vietnam. Under the Party’s leadership, mechanisms and democracy regulations are set up to promote the people’s right to mastery. Public participation is strengthened in formulating legislation and policies, in implementing the Party’s decisions, supervising activities of the Party’s organizations, Party’s members, and public officials.
Promoting democracy must go hand in hand with strengthening discipline. A country without discipline may fall in turmoil, instability, and underdevelopment. To promote democracy requires to strengthen solidarity and retain consistency between thoughts and actions.
Democracy is clearly expressed in the personnel work, especially in selection of qualified officials who have political stance, good ethics, strategic thinking, high sense of responsibility to the key positions in the Party Central Committees and the State’s agencies. The personnel work is discussed in a democratic way in the Party. General Secretary of the Party Nguyen Phu Trong emphasized that everyone has both strengths and weaknesses. It is important to accurately assess the strengths and weaknesses to select the right person for a right position and promote individuals’ strengths to create strong leadership for the interest of the country.
The Party resolutely and persistently promotes the implementation of the Resolution of the Fourth Plenum of the Eleventh Party Central Committee on building the Party in association with learning and following Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and style; preventing and repulsing the degradation in political ideology, ethics and lifestyle as well as the manifestation of “self-evolution” and “self-transformation”. It leads the renovation and requires improvement of the personnel work with a focus on personnel evaluation, improvement the Party units and Party members, strictly discipline, leading by examples, effective communication of ideology and information transmission. It strengthens its leadership of the press and facilitates state management of internet-based media; improves the Party’s role in inspection, supervision and discipline enforcement.
According to President Ho Chi Minh, democracy exists when the interests and power belong to the people. The ideology of “for the people, by the people” was strictly followed in the leadership of the Party and management of the State during the two wars for national liberation. It is seen by the Party and the State as the guideline for building new society with comprehensive development, enhancing people’s knowledge, building and defending the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Creativity and development
Achievements in innovation, development of a socialist-oriented market economy, national industrialization and modernization, development of Vietnamese culture and people, social development management, national defense, making policy and guidelines for foreign affairs and international integration, democracy promotion, political system renovation, building a socialist rule-of-law state, building the Party over the 35 past years are evidence to prove that the Party has made sound decisions on transformation and the path to socialism is consistent with the reality in Vietnam and the development trend of history.
The achievements and valuable lessons learned make us firmly believe in the Party’s leadership and perseveringly continue the path that the Party, President Ho Chi Minh and the people have selected.
During the renovation period, the Party led the country to overcome difficulties, challenges and gained great achievements of historical significance. The country enjoys a high economic growth (on average, 6% annually in the 2016-2020 period), economic stability, economic competitiveness.
In addition, the fight against corruption and handling cases of violation of the Party’s disciplines and the law regardless of the position of the violators even the high positions in the Party and the State apparatus have been strongly and drastically conducted in the 2016-2021 period than ever before.
To continue to promote comprehensive and synchronous transformation, especially in economy and politics is necessary in the new period of the country. Viewpoints, principles, directions, solutions, roadmaps, and conditions to ensure economic development, political stability, social consensus, and to strengthen the great national solidarity should be worked, which creates a synergy to realize the goal of rich people, strong nation, democracy, justice and civilization.
The success of the 13th National Party Congress for the 2021-2026 tenure with the motto “Solidarity – Democracy – Discipline – Creativity – Development” is expected to bring the country into a new development period.
