The 12th Party Congress has been marked by a number of significant achievements. The five-year term saw Party building and rectification enhanced, the macro-economy stabilised, national defence and security consolidated, and external relations expanded.
During the five-year term, four Resolutions and decisions as well as 130 documents on building and rectifying the Party were issued, with many of which were on the Party’s personnel works.
Disruptive behaviour in personnel works have been effectively contained, and supervision and disciplinary works by the Party against corruption and interest groups have been intensified. The Party Central Committee, Politburo, Secretariat, and Inspection Commission imposed discipline on 110 Party members, including three Politburo members, one former Politburo member, 10 Party Central Committee members, and 17 former members of the Party Central Committee.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc on the global economy, Vietnam’s average GDP growth from 2016 to 2020 still reached 5.9% per year. GDP in 2020 hit nearly 270 billion USD, while GDP per capita was estimated at some 2,750 USD per year. Workplace productivity increased from 4.3% each year during the 2011-2015 period to 5.8% each year in 2016-2020.
The approval of several new-generation free trade agreements, including the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, confirms the prestige and position Vietnam now holds in the world. Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong has stressed several times that “in all humility, we can be proud that our country now has its best-ever wealth, potential, position, and prestige.”
Given the major post-pandemic challenges, in order for the country to rebound the whole political system must exert every effort in the coming five years to continue reforming the country./.