On the morning of December 18, in Hanoi, the solemn session of the 9th National Congress of the Vietnam Youth Union, term 2024-2029, took place. Nhan Dan Newspaper respectfully introduces the full text of General Secretary To Lam's speech at the Congress.

Dear Presidium of the Congress,

Dear leaders, former leaders of the Party, State, Vietnam Fatherland Front, heroic Vietnamese mothers, delegates, distinguished guests,

Dear Congress,

Today, I am very pleased to attend the 9th National Congress of the Vietnam Youth Union, term 2024-2029. On behalf of the Party and State leaders, I warmly welcome the Congress, welcome the leaders, former leaders of the Party and State, revolutionary veterans, heroic Vietnamese mothers, heroes of the armed forces, heroes of labor, delegates, distinguished guests and through you, I send my warm greetings, sincere greetings and best wishes to all Vietnamese youth at home and abroad.

Dear Congress!

During the revolutionary stages, our Party has always paid special attention to and focused on youth work, issued many resolutions and directives to care for and educate the youth, and prepared a solid foundation for the youth to be ready to accept the mission of mastering the country. In 1930, our Party was born and established from the Vietnam Revolutionary Youth Association. Vietnamese youth are also the ones who inspired many revolutionary movements in our country. Comrade Tran Phu held the position of the first General Secretary of our Party when he was only 24 years old; Comrade Nguyen Van Cu held the position of General Secretary of the Party when he was only 26 years old; comrades Le Hong Phong, Ha Huy Tap, Ngo Gia Tu, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Hoang Van Thu and many other cadres were outstanding leaders of the Party when they were still young.

During the national liberation movement, which culminated in the August Revolution in 1945, under the leadership of the Party, headed by President Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese youth, together with the entire people and army, determined to devote all their spirit and strength, lives and property to maintain freedom and independence.

In the resistance wars against the French colonialists and the American imperialists, full of sacrifice and hardship, with the will to "die for the Fatherland"; with the spirit of "nothing is more precious than independence and freedom", "rather sacrifice everything but never lose the country, never become slaves", the "Youth Volunteers" in their youthful years "cut across Truong Son to save the country" with the slogan: "wherever needed, there are youth, wherever difficult, there are youth"; with the movements of "3 ready", "3 capable", "5 volunteers", "Putting down pens and going to battle", the youth of the whole country dedicated hundreds of thousands of outstanding young people to the Fatherland, creating a generation that fought and won with love, the spirit of voluntary dedication and boundless sacrifice for the Fatherland.

Millions of union members and young people volunteered to join the main force, the militia and guerrillas, and the frontline laborers; millions of union members and young people worked selflessly to build socialism in the North with the Thai Nguyen Iron and Steel Works, Nam Dinh Textile, Bac Hung Hai Irrigation, Hoa Binh Hydroelectric Plant, Moc Chau Farm, the Five Tons of Rice Movement, etc. to become a solid rear base for the great frontline in the South, contributing significantly with the entire Party, the entire people, and the entire army to liberate the nation and unify the country. In the South, there were movements to "find the Americans to destroy, find the puppets to fight", "Citadel of the Fatherland"... with the active participation of the youth force.

The country is unified and entering a period of innovation, Vietnamese youth continue to rise strongly. The movements "Vietnamese youth study and follow Uncle Ho's teachings", "Youth join hands to build new countryside", "Youth participate in building urban civilization", "5 good students", "Youth start a business", "Youth protect the country", "Youth volunteer", etc. attract tens of millions of young people to participate, bringing about many great results.

Many young people and students volunteered to face difficulties and hardships in the highlands, remote areas, and revolutionary base areas to teach, repair houses, and provide medical care to the people. Many young intellectuals volunteered to help people develop the economy, develop new economic zones, escape poverty, and enrich their homeland and country. Generations of young workers actively improved their skills, proactively innovated, were creative, worked enthusiastically, and created a lot of material wealth for society. A large number of young farmers strived to increase labor productivity; the young intellectuals and young Vietnamese entrepreneurs, with their ambition to contribute, accept challenges, and aspire to national self-reliance, have achieved many results. Tens of millions of union members and young people always strive to excel; many outstanding young people have been recognized and highly appreciated by international friends, spreading and strongly inspiring the beautiful lifestyle and efforts of Vietnamese youth to excel.

The achievements and results of Vietnamese youth have important contributions from youth organizations, including the Vietnam Youth Union, especially in implementing revolutionary action movements, programs accompanying youth; political and ideological education, and fostering revolutionary ideals.

On behalf of the Party and State leaders, I commend the achievements of the youth of the whole country and the Vietnam Youth Union in the recent past.

Besides the results, frankly admitting that youth and youth work still have shortcomings and limitations, I emphasize 5 issues, requesting comrades to focus on exchanging, discussing, and soon finding solutions to overcome them, as follows:

(1) Our Party attaches special importance to the role of youth, and has had many policies on youth and youth work. However, since Resolution No. 25-NQ/TW dated July 25, 2008 of the 10th Central Executive Committee on strengthening the Party's leadership over youth work in the period of accelerating industrialization and modernization, although documents of all congresses have mentioned youth work, there has not been a separate resolution on this issue to plan youth work to meet the requirements of the new situation. This reality shows that there are problems in concretizing and institutionalizing the Party's policies into life.

(2) Currently, the situation of crime and social evils among teenagers and young people is very worrying; there is still a part of the youth who lack ideals and ambitions, are pragmatic, selfish, far from the good cultural traditions of the nation, do not strictly obey the law, fall into individualism, have limited integration ability, are weak both physically and mentally, and waste their youth. What does the Youth Union Leadership Board think about this? How much responsibility is there?

(3) The rate of solidarity among the youth of the Association is still insufficient; are the activities of the Association in some places substantial and effective? Many movements have not yet come into practice, and have not attracted a large number of young people to actively participate; have the methods of operation of the Association caught up with the trends, needs and tastes of the youth?

(4) The work of educating revolutionary ideals, ethics, and lifestyle for young people is still outdated, not keeping up with new trends and the psychological characteristics of today's youth. Has it met the needs of young people?

(5) Is the structure and organizational model of the Youth Union and Youth Federation reasonable? Is it an inverted cone? The framework at the central and provincial levels is grand and complete; at the grassroots and village levels, it is difficult... some activities are formal. For example, in the "Youth Volunteer" movement, are the local and grassroots forces "volunteers"? Is career guidance for young people practical and effective? The leaders of the Youth Union and Youth Leaders understand this issue better than anyone else. How does the Central Youth Union plan to implement Resolution No. 18 of the 12th Central Executive Committee to overcome the above situation?

Dear comrades and friends,

With the great achievements after nearly 80 years of founding the country and nearly 40 years of implementing the renovation process, with new opportunities and fortunes, the Party's will is blending with the people's hearts in the aspiration to bring the country into a new era, an era of development, an era of prosperity under the leadership of the Party. Whether that cause is successful or not, whether the country can firmly step into a new era, an era of rising up or not, whether by 2045 it can stand shoulder to shoulder with the world powers as President Ho Chi Minh wished and the aspiration of the entire nation or not, depends largely on the contribution of the youth force - the future generation of the country, those who will follow in the footsteps of their fathers and brothers to shoulder the task of building and defending the Fatherland.

Gathering and orienting the young generation of Vietnam, creating great motivation and an important source of strength to contribute to bringing the country firmly into the new era is the glorious mission of the Vietnam Youth Union and youth organizations in the current revolutionary period. I would like to suggest 3 issues:

Firstly , it is necessary to unify the perception of the role of youth and the special importance of youth work in the new revolutionary stage of the Party and the nation. The country is facing a historic opportunity to enter a new era, but there are still many difficulties and challenges. The risk of economic backwardness still exists, the risk of Vietnam's economy falling into the middle-income trap and having difficulty approaching developing countries has not been pushed back. Vietnam's labor productivity growth rate is gradually decreasing, lower than many countries in the region. The quality of human resources is still limited, lacking highly qualified workers to meet the development needs of key economic sectors, high technology, serving digital development. Requirements for developing new productive forces (combining high-quality human resources with new means of production, strategic infrastructure in transportation, science and technology, digital transformation, energy infrastructure); Promoting strategic technology, digital transformation, green transformation, taking science and technology, innovation as the main driving force for development, etc. are posing very new requirements for mobilizing and promoting the strength and pioneering role of young people.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Central Committee for Mass Mobilization, the Central Committee for Propaganda and Education, in coordination with the Association, its collective member organizations and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, promptly propose to the Politburo to issue a Resolution on youth work in the era of national development, clearly defining the goals, targets, tasks, and strategic solutions to mobilize the strength of the youth together with the entire Party, the entire people, and the entire army to soon bring the country on par with the world powers. Summarize Resolution No. 25 dated July 25, 2008 of the 10th Central Executive Committee on the Party's leadership of youth work, to issue a new Resolution on Youth in the new stage of the revolution.

Second , strongly innovate the work of associations and youth unions; build a strong contingent of association and youth union cadres; clearly define the responsibilities and tasks of the Association, its collective member organizations, and the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union in educating revolutionary ideals, preventing and combating moral degradation, lifestyle, crime, and social evils among youth, students, and pupils. Strongly innovate the Association's methods of accompanying, supporting, and approaching, ensuring closeness with young people; gather and widely unite Vietnamese youth at home and abroad, including in the online environment, to effectively implement the Party's policies and the State's laws and policies.

Take the lead in creating revolutionary movements of young people to implement the Party's strategic policies on preventing and combating waste, digital transformation, combating environmental pollution, and streamlining the political system's apparatus to be lean, strong, efficient, effective, and efficient. Strongly innovate political and ideological education for young people, ensuring close and broad access to diverse youth groups; strongly shift from passive "giving and receiving" knowledge to proactively allowing young people to promote their creative role, putting young people at the center, creating playgrounds and forums for young people to be designers and participants in activities; promote learning and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality, and style; closely combine the method of setting examples, skillfully combining old and young cadres.

The Central Committee of the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Central Propaganda Department, and the Central Mass Mobilization Department coordinate with relevant agencies to determine specific tasks and responsibilities of the Association and the Youth Union in preventing and combating moral and lifestyle degradation, crime, and social evils among youth, pupils, and students; and to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation with youth from other countries in accordance with the guidelines and policies of the Party and State.

Strengthen coordination between the Youth Union and ministries, branches, socio-political organizations, and families in understanding and listening to aspirations; removing shortcomings in mechanisms and policies; providing vocational training and job creation; discovering, gathering, nurturing, encouraging, and creating conditions for talented youth to develop their abilities and contribute to the country.

Focus on building a strong, pioneering team of Union and Youth Union cadres, always impartial, caring for the youth first, happy after the youth, going first in hardship, going last in enjoyment, capable of planning and organizing practical and effective revolutionary movements, being a shining example to inspire and gather the youth, with the capacity to fulfill the requirements and tasks of youth work in the new revolutionary period.

Third , the requirements for young people in the era of national development. Many breakthrough tasks in building the country in the new era (innovation, digital transformation, strategic technology, etc.) with the strength of young people. The task of building socialism is difficult, long-term, and complicated. The future of communism belongs to young people. Young people are the vanguard force, leading the way in building a prosperous, strong, democratic, equitable, and civilized Vietnam.

The requirements and tasks for young people in the new revolutionary period are very glorious, more demanding than ever, young people need to clearly demonstrate their role in all activities of social life, need to be clearly aware of their responsibilities and tasks, must be the leading force in studying and training, constantly strive to master science and technology, be steadfast, determined, united, must do what is worth doing, prioritize action, talk less, do more, be proactive, decisive, grasp and seize opportunities, absolutely not arrogant or complacent.

Imbued with and implementing President Ho Chi Minh's advice: "Because youth are the pioneers in economic and cultural development, in the cause of building socialism,... Because youth are the basic force in the army, police and militia,... Because in all work, youth compete to implement the slogan: "Wherever needed, youth are there; whatever is difficult, youth will do"; "The task of youth is not to ask what the country has given them. But to ask themselves what they have done for the country? How can they benefit the country more? How much have they sacrificed and strived for the benefit of the country?"

Dear Congress!

The Party and State always place deep trust in the youth force, always put the youth at the center of many major issues of the country; consider the youth as the key factor in shaping and developing the future of the country; consider the growth of the youth as the success of the Party, the victory of the revolutionary cause, the longevity of the nation; always pay special attention and care to the youth and youth work.

The Party and the State deeply believe in and expect to promote the role and responsibility of the Vietnam Youth Union in the new term; with the desire to contribute and the great ambition to proactively build and protect the Fatherland, firmly believing that "The path of youth can only be the revolutionary path and no other path", Vietnamese youth will constantly strive to be independent, confident, self-reliant, self-reliant, proud of the nation, and make strong efforts for a Vietnam with rich people, strong country, democratic, fair, civilized society, soon standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers as President Ho Chi Minh wished and the aspiration of the entire nation.

On this occasion, I would like to request Party committees at all levels, authorities, organizations, localities and the whole society to regularly pay attention to, direct, help and create all favorable conditions for the Vietnam Youth Union to operate effectively; pay attention to and create an environment for members and Vietnamese youth to confidently participate in implementing important political tasks of the country and of localities and units. The Party and the State always clearly recognize their responsibility to the country, the nation and the young generation, and will do their utmost together with the entire Party, the entire people and the entire army to take care of the young generation so that they can develop more comprehensively, have better education and training, have healthier entertainment and recreation, have better jobs and incomes, have an increasingly civilized, progressive and fair living environment, so that our young generation will forever live in independence, freedom, peace and happiness.

Wishing all delegates good health, happiness and success.

Wish the Congress great success.

Thank you very much!