SPEECH BY HEAD OF DELEGATION OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF VIETNAM

AT THE EXTRAORDINARY TELECONFERENCE OF THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF COMMUNISTSAND WORKERS’ PARTIES (IMCWP)

(10-12/12/2021)

Dear comrades,

On behalf of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, I would like to extend my respectful greetings and solidarity to the fraternal communist and workers’ partiesparticipating in the Extraordinary TeleConference of the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties today. In the context of the ongoing complex pandemic, I am very glad to seethe presence of a large number of comrades at the Conference.

We appreciate and thank the efforts of the Communist Party of Greece and the Communist Party of Turkey to co-host this Extraordinary Conference in an online platform while the conditions have not yet allowed to hold the Meeting in person.After a year of interruption, this is a very necessary action, which contributes to maintaining the movement, increasing information exchange, and coordinating action and cooperation between communist and workers' parties.

Comrades,

The current world situation is changing rapidly, complicatedly and unpredictably, with many potential challenges. Although peace, national independence, democracy and development are still major trends, they are facing many obstacles. To be more specific, it is  fierce strategic competitions for power and interests among major powers, with potential risks of conflicts, arms races, activities of intervention, subversion,.... In addition, contradictions, local conflicts... are taking place in more complicated and drastic forms. Extreme nationalism, great power politics, and pragmatism in international relations have been increasing, posing many challenges, especially for small countries.

The Asia-Pacific region, including our region of Southeast Asia, is currently one of the most dynamic developing regions. The ASEAN Community has achieved numerous significant results in promotinglinkages intra-bloc and with international partners, expanding cooperation among member countries across many fields. At the same time, Southeast Asia, with its increasingly important strategic position, has become a focal point of intense competition among major powers. Sovereign disputes overboundaries, sea and islands in the region and the world are increasingly complicated, negatively affecting the security and development environment.

The Covid-19 pandemic, not only a health crisisclaiming millions of lives, but also a serious economic challenge, has profoundlyimpacted all aspects of life. The world economy, which was already in difficulty, is now even more depressed, making it extremely challenging to ensure citizens' social security, while the gap between the rich and the poor, and social inequality havebeen increasingly deepened. These developments have revealed and exaggerated the potential risks to the international economic, political and security environment.

Comrades,

In early 2021, the Communist Party of Viet Nam successfully organized its13th National Congress. We are very glad and would like to express our gratitude toyour congratulations and encouragement sent to the Congress. This congress is of special significance, reviewing not onlythe implementation of the Resolution of the 12th National Party Congress but also 35 years of implementing the Renewal cause, 30 years of implementing the Platform of National Construction and setting out development orientationsin the coming years.

During the 35 years of Renewal, Viet Nam's economy experienced a continuous growth of about 7% per year on average. GDP increased 12 times, reaching 343 billion USD in 2020, ranking in the top 40 world’s largest economies. The poverty rate decreased from 58% in 1993 to 2.75% in 2020, making Viet Nam one of the first countries to reach the goal of the UN Millennium Development Goals on poverty reduction in advance. Those achievements could be attributable to the process of striving and persistent efforts of the entire Party and all Viet Namese, the correct and consistent renewal line and creative application of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh Thought, sensitivity and creativity, and closelystickingtothe view that socio-economic development is the central task, in which people is put at the center of itsstrategy.

Bringing into full play of the achieved results, in the spirit of strongly awakening patriotism and national self-reliance, the XIII Congress set out a direction to continue to promote the Renewal causein a holistic and synchronous manner, to consistently increase the country's potential in all aspects, and to lead the country to develop quickly and sustainably. We set the specific targets:

- By 2025 which marks the 50th anniversary of total liberation of the South and reunification of the country: To become a developing country withan industry moving toward modernity and having passed over the lower middle-income level.

- By 2030, upon celebration of the Party’s centennial: To become a developing country with a modern industry and an upper middle-income level.

- By 2045 which marks the centennial of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, now the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: To become a developed country with a high-income status.

In order to achieve the above objectives, our Party has determined that it is necessary to thoroughly grasp in awareness and practice a number of points of view:

(i)The principled consistent view is: “To be steadfast and creative in applying and developing Marxism-Leninism and Hồ Chí Minh Thought, to be steadfast in the goals of national independence and socialism; to be steadfast in the Party’s line of renewal; and to be steadfast in Party-building principles for building and defending firmly the socialist Vietnamese Homeland”.

(ii)Fully acknowledging thatParty’s leadership isthe decisive factor for thevictoryof Viet Nam’s revolutionary cause, andfor the success of the cause of  the building and defending of our nation,we attach special importance to Party building, whichis identified as the “key” task.

(iii) Identifying the driving forces for development arethetremendous sense off patriotism, the willpower ofnational self-reliance, the strength of all-nation unity and the earnest aspiration for the country’s prosperity and well-being, we set the task of “Combining the nation’s strength with that of the times; upholding the willpower of independence,autonomy, proactive and active international integration, and improving international cooperation efficiency, and maximizing internal resources while soliciting external resources, with endogenous resources, particularly human resources, being the most important”.

Comrades,

The Communist Party of Viet Nam advocates the consistent implementation of foreign policy line of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralization and diversification of external relations. Viet Nam is a friend, a trusted partner, and an active and responsible member of the international community. The Communist Party of Viet Nam always promotes pure and noble internationalism, striving for makingsignificant contributions to solidaritybuildingamongcommunist and workers' parties, preserving and consolidating solidarity in the movement. Today, we once again express our consistent support for the just struggles of the world's peoples, and call for greater international solidarity among the communist and workers' parties and among democratic, peace-loving and progressive forcesin the world. The more difficult the situation is, the more we should help, unite, and work together to clarify the superiority of socialism.

On this occasion, once again the Communist Party of Viet Nam would like to thank the solidarity, support and valuable assistance of the working class, communist forces and progressive people around the world in Viet Nam’s struggle for national independence and unification in the past, as well as in current construction and defense of the Fatherland of the Communist Party of Viet Nam and its people.

Viet Nam's Renewal cause is entering an important stage. We believe that under the correct leadership of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, with the help and solidarity of communist and workers’ forces, and international friends, the aspiration for a prosperous, happy and socialist-orientedViet Nam will soon become a reality.

Wish our TeleConference a great success!

Thank you comrades!