In his opening speech at the 10th Central Conference of the 13th tenure, General Secretary and President To Lam emphasized: We identify the 14th Congress as the Congress marking the moment when the country enters a new era - the era of national development. In his closing speech at the Conference, the General Secretary said that the Central Committee has unanimously assessed: With the position and strength accumulated after 40 years of renovation, with the consensus and joint efforts of the entire Party, the entire people and the entire army, with new opportunities and advantages, under the wise leadership of the Party, we have gathered all the necessary conditions and the documents of the 14th Congress must set out strategic directions, tasks and important solutions to liberate all productive forces, maximize internal resources, mobilize external resources, take internal resources, human resources as the foundation, science - technology and innovation as breakthroughs to bring the country into a new era, the era of development of the Vietnamese nation. International position and prestige Under the leadership of the Party, implementing the Doi Moi process, our country has achieved great achievements of historical significance, developing strongly and comprehensively. People's lives have been significantly improved both materially and spiritually. The 13th National Party Congress affirmed: "Our country has never had such a foundation, potential, position and international prestige as today". Developing a socialist-oriented market economy has brought about clear, profound and positive changes in Vietnam. The economy has developed, the productive forces have been strengthened; the poverty rate has decreased rapidly; people's lives have improved, many social problems have been solved; politics and society have been stable, national defense and security have been ensured; foreign affairs and international integration have been increasingly expanded; the position and power of the nation have been enhanced; people's trust in the leadership of the Party has been consolidated. "In addition, from a closed economy, Vietnam has become an economy with a high level of global integration when becoming a major global trading partner, with total import-export turnover in 2023 reaching nearly 700 billion USD, attracting a large amount of foreign investment reaching 23 billion USD, this is the highest investment level of Vietnam ever, even when major markets are shrinking and the global supply chain is still broken", Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Politburo member, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council emphasized. From a country with chronic food shortages, up to now, Vietnam has not only ensured food security but also become a leading exporter of rice and many agricultural products in the world. Industry and services have developed quite rapidly, continuously growing strongly, showing that building a socialist-oriented market economy not only has positive economic effects but also solves social problems very well. From a backward economy, Vietnam has risen to be among the Top 40 leading economies, with a trade scale in the Top 20 countries in the world, an important link in 16 free trade agreements (FTAs) connecting with 60 key economies in the region and globally. The country's macroeconomic foundation has been maintained stably, inflation has been controlled, and major balances have been basically guaranteed. The state budget balance has been ensured, especially in the context of implementing many new and urgent tasks such as preventing and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, implementing policies to exempt, reduce, postpone, and extend taxes and fees, supporting people and businesses, meeting investment and development needs, and accumulating sufficient resources to implement wage reform. The scale and potential of the economy have been constantly expanded. The multidimensional poverty rate according to the new standards has decreased from 4.03% in 2022 to 2.93% in 2023; Vietnam continues to be a bright spot in implementing the United Nations development goals. The economic structure continues to shift in a positive direction. Investment in developing the infrastructure system has been focused on and achieved clear results; many expressway projects and key infrastructure works were simultaneously started, a number of projects were put into use, and efficiency was promoted. Economic growth has gradually recovered. GDP growth rate in 2021 reached 2.56%, which is considered positive by the world while many economies have negative growth; in 2022, it increased by 8.02%. In 2023, Vietnam's GDP growth will reach over 5%. Although this growth rate is lower than the set target of 6.5%, it is considered by international financial institutions to be quite high and positive compared to many other economies, considering the gloomy global economic context. In 2023, the trade balance continued to record a trade surplus for the 8th consecutive year with a record surplus estimated at 28 billion USD, 2.3 times higher than in 2022. Reporting on socio-economic issues at the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly on socio-economic issues, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that in October, our country's socio-economic situation continued to trend positively, surpassing September; in the past 10 months, the results achieved were better than the same period in 2023 in most areas. All three sectors of agriculture, industry and services maintained positive growth momentum; the macro-economy remained stable; inflation was controlled; major balances were secured; public debt, government debt, foreign debt, and state budget deficit were lower than the prescribed limit... Many large and prestigious international organizations continued to assess the prospects and results of Vietnam's economy. Fitch Ratings upgraded Vietnam's credit rating to BB+ with a "Stable" outlook; Moody's rated it at Ba2 with a "Stable" outlook; S&P rated it at BB+ with a "Stable" outlook. The Prime Minister raised the issue that, based on the positive results of the past 10 months, from now until the end of the year, the Government will focus on directing with high determination, great efforts, drastic and effective actions to maintain momentum, maintain rhythm, and strive for GDP growth in the fourth quarter to reach over 7.5%, and for the whole year to reach over 7%; thereby ensuring the achievement and surpassing of all 15 main socio-economic targets of 2024, creating momentum for the implementation of the 2025 plan, the entire 2021-2025 period, creating a premise and basis for the country to enter a new era, an era of striving to become a rich and prosperous nation as directed by General Secretary To Lam. Strategic direction

Regarding the strategic orientation to bring the country into a new era, an era of national development, the General Secretary said that Vietnam's overall economy has grown continuously since the implementation of the 1991 Platform, and has been consistently among the countries with high growth rates in the region and the world, bringing Vietnam from a low-income country to a middle-income country. Despite the high growth rate, 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. The General Secretary emphasized that in reality, there are still institutional bottlenecks and limitations in law enforcement. The fear of making mistakes, fear of responsibility, not daring to do things, avoiding responsibility, and pushing work to higher-level management agencies or to other ministries and branches. The transformation of the economic model from breadth to depth is slow. Public investment progress is slow, capital use efficiency is not high, still scattered, there is much waste, the leading role has not been promoted, and the effective activation of non-state resources has not been promoted. The restructuring of credit institutions and the handling of weak credit institutions are slow; the situation of "cross-ownership" and credit lending to "internal" and "backyard" enterprises is still complicated and there are no thorough solutions. The identification of strategic and high-value national industries has not received attention. The infrastructure system and urban development lack connectivity; the construction of digital infrastructure is slow. The private economy has not become an important driving force of the economy, and has not made good use of foreign investment resources. The application and development of science and technology have not brought about clear results; the quality of human resources is still limited, there is a lack of highly qualified workers to meet the development needs of key economic sectors, high technology, and serving digital development. External factors have negative impacts, increasing the risk of economic backwardness. The General Secretary pointed out a number of solutions and strategic directions for economic development, pushing back the risk of backwardness and the middle-income trap. These include stronger breakthroughs in development institutions, removing bottlenecks and barriers, taking people and businesses as the center, mobilizing and clearing all internal and external resources, resources within the people, developing science and technology synchronously and smoothly, all for the economic, cultural and social development of the country and developing and improving the material and spiritual life of the people; synchronization and breakthroughs in building economic and social infrastructure are the highest priorities. Focus on building a Vietnamese socialist model, focusing on building socialist people, creating the foundation for building a socialist society as defined by the Party Platform (rich people, strong country, democracy, fairness, civilization, people as masters, managed by the State, led by the Communist Party). Along with that, focus on developing new productive forces (combining high-quality human resources with new means of production, strategic infrastructure for transportation, digital transformation, green transformation) associated with perfecting production relations. Initiate and implement the digital transformation revolution. Promote strategic technology, digital transformation, green transformation, taking science and technology, innovation as the main driving force for development.