The country is bustling as the new spring and the traditional Lunar New Year (Tet) festival is in the air. People all over the country are eagerly awaiting the sacred Lunar New Year's Eve as they reunite with their families’ members. Naturally, the new spring always means the desire of happiness, good luck and prosperity for all the family and the country as a whole. Vietnamese are filled with joy for the nation’s potential and its role in the world has never been as strong as it today. That’s the reason they’re more confident in the Party's leadership and the administration of the Government.
As the country welcomes the new spring, all Vietnamese people feel proud to look back on 2019, amidst the complex political and economic situation in the world and region, the prevalence of natural disasters, epidemics and climate change, under the leadership, guidance and implementation of the Party and the State agencies, accompanied by outstanding efforts, creativity, innovation and determination of the people, the business community and other mass organisations; Vietnam achieved comprehensive results in 2019 in all socio-economic fields, as well as in security - defence and foreign affairs.
In particular, Vietnam achieved and exceeded all the targets set by the National Assembly, especially on GDP growth, export turnover, industrial production, curbing inflation, ensuring macroeconomic balance and attracting FDI. The prestige and position of Vietnam is increasingly being strengthened in the international arena. Everyone is proud of the results, laying an important premise for 2020 – the key year to successfully complete the implementation of the 12th National Party Congress’s Resolution and the 5-year socio-economic development plan for the 2016-2020 period, thus creating an exciting and strong belief for the bright future for the country in the new spring.
Last year, the Government and the Prime Minister spent a lot of time paying close attention to and setting multiple guidelines and policies to solve and remove all difficulties and obstacles in institutional reforms, actively improving the investment environment and boosting business and production activities, while creating favourable conditions for all the people and businesses while undergoing their development.
The Government, under the active and drastic direction from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, organised a range of important national symposia to address macro issues and "bottlenecks" in economic growth, such as promoting disbursement of public investment, restructuring State-owned enterprises, boosting sustainable development for the Mekong Delta and developing the Southern and the Central key economic regions. These tireless efforts have been highly appreciated by the international community, reflecting in the improved indicators on competitiveness as well as improving the business environment for Vietnam rated by international prestigious organisations. Vietnam has become a favourable destination for foreign investors who have placed their full faith in its development.
2019 also witnessed the Government make a strong impression when it successfully implemented the motto of "Discipline - Integrity - Action - Innovation - Efficiency - Breakthrough", in which "Innovation" and "Breakthrough" have been realised in a much clearer manner. The Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc drastically renovated the growth model associated with restructuring the economy, moving from a growth model that relied heavily on exploitation of natural resources, investment capital and labour into a growth model with comprehensive and efficient use of economic resources while attaching importance to high quality human resources, in which special importance is paid to the role of creative innovation.
Various synchronous solutions to improve labour productivity, quality and efficiency, as well as economic competitiveness have been widely put into practice, thereby bringing allowing the economy to deeply integrate into the global value chain. Vietnamese enterprises are increasingly taking an active role in participating in the fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), actively applying and receiving advanced science and technology, thus strongly moving forwards to achieve greater added value. In order to realise the passion for creative innovation, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has decided to set up a national creative innovation centre under the management of the Ministry of Planning and Investment with the goal of supporting and developing creative innovation and start-up ecosystem in Vietnam, with an aim to make creative innovation and start-up truly a leverage to promote Vietnam’s growth model innovation on the basis of scientific development.
In addition to implementing three breakthroughs in institutions, infrastructure and human resources, to keep pace with new trends, the Prime Minister has announced to the international community: Vietnam has added two breakthroughs to its goals, considering them the two important growth engines for Vietnam over the next decade – they are promoting creativity and applying Industry 4.0 achievements. Thanks to these tireless efforts, in a report published by the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), Vietnam's rankings in the 2019 Global Innovation Index (GII) continued to improve, jumping three ranks compared to 2018 to place 42nd out of 129 economies around the world. With this jump, Vietnam has leapt 17 spots since 2016 – its highest ranking to date, witnessing it take the lead in the group of 26 lower middle-income countries. This is an important piece of evidence confirming the effective and drastic direction of the Government and the Prime Minister, as well as the efforts from the relevant ministries, agencies and localities in developing and implementing practical and comprehensive solutions to improve the business environment, national competitiveness and the national innovation capacity. The creative start-up atmosphere in Vietnam has never been as strong and widespread as it is now, and there have never been so many successful startups. The Prime Minister has repeatedly issued messages affirming that creative innovation is the most important growth engine in the future, urging for more efforts to implement policies to encourage economic innovation. Experts are upbeat with predictions that Vietnam's creative innovative economy will boom in the near future.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has also determined that, in the current new era, it is impossible for Vietnam to accept "so so" development but instead the country must make strong breakthroughs and find new growth engines to catch up with other countries in the integration era amidst strong scientific and technological development as of today. Vietnam has always nurtured a burning desire for prosperity, with the set goal of joining the group of high-income countries in the world and a responsible member in easing the burden with the international community in the coming decades. The development of Vietnam is placed in the balance of sustainability and inclusion in economic, politic, social and the natural environmental issues. It's a knowledge-based economy, assisted by technology, innovation and green growth, and is highly resilient to climate change and natural disasters, with its citizens all benefiting from development outcomes without anyone beings left behind.
At some international conferences attended by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, it can be seen that the international community has expressed their strong and positive impression on the bold messages from the Vietnamese Government leader in saying that Vietnam has been well aware of enormous difficulties and challenges on the way to develop, but the Vietnamese Government accepts it will face these challenges head on to continue to grow. To accomplish this mission, Vietnam should continue to uphold its strong spirit to avoid the risk of falling into the "middle-income trap", while maintaining and promoting its growth momentum. In order to do so, the country must seize and make good use of opportunities from Industry 4.0, taking the main growth driver based on science-technology and innovation, while gradually replacing traditional input resources which are increasingly scarce or losing their advantages. Vietnam must join Industry 4.0 in an active and creative spirit, with the core being to promote the development of science-technology and innovation in all industries and fields.
The Prime Minister has pointed out that, in the current conditions, there must be a mechanism to maintain, nurture and promote the cultural-spiritual motivation and aspiration for development in each person by promoting patriotism, national pride and self-reliance. In building a quality contingent of cadres and civil servants, it is necessary to focus on educating national aspirations, promoting integrity and implementing well the mission of serving the people and enterprises. Those countries, with active switch to the growth model based on high quality human resources, good management and strong application of modern science and technology achievements, have made important breakthroughs in development and become newly industrialised countries. Following this process, Vietnam must fully grasp the Party's viewpoints and policies: renovating the growth model towards focusing and increasingly relying more on factors that promoting labour productivity growth and a more efficient use of resources, especially patriotism, national pride and creativity of Vietnamese people, as well as scientific and technological achievements of mankind, potentials and advantages of all sectors, localities and the whole country, and the support from overseas Vietnamese from all over the world. The Prime Minister has multiply emphasised that the country's development resources are not "abundant forests and seas" but the knowledge and internal strength of nearly 100 million people to be determined to unite as one to boost the national development.
2020 is considered an especially significant year for the country, witnessing multiple important events as Vietnam hosting Party congresses at all level towards the 13th National Party Congress, the 90th anniversary of the Party's founding, and the 130th birth anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh, as well as taking on the role of a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for the 2020-2021 term and assuming the chair role of ASEAN. The welcoming of the New Lunar Year which signals the start for new hopes and the aspiration to make Vietnam a more prosperous country has become stronger than ever, as the whole nation is looking forward to 2030 – the year marking the 100th anniversary of the Party's founding and 2045 – the year which will witness the 100th anniversary of the National Day. All should contribute to accelerating the realisation of building a strong Vietnam to become an industrialised country and being among the leading group of upper-middle-income countries by 2030, as well as becoming an industrialised, modernised socialist-oriented nation by 2045.
