Hanoi, Jan. 26, (dpa/GNA) – Vietnam’s Communist Party chief praised the nation’s economic success and pandemic response on Tuesday in a 75-minute-long speech to open the 13th National Congress.
Nguyen Phu Trong addressed 1,578 delegates from across the party’s ranks.
“Our country has been developing rapidly and sustainably, consolidating people’s confidence in the Party, the state and the socialist regime,” Trong said in comments on Vietnam’s progress since the last congress in 2016.
“Growth quality has improved, the economy has been stable, inflation has been kept under control,” Trong added.
The congress, which is held every five years, runs until February 2.
Vietnam will set key policies for the next five years and appoint a new party chief, president, prime minister, and chairman of the National Assembly.
The visiting delegates, chosen from just over 5 million party members, will elect a new 200-member central committee. This latter group will elect a new politburo comprised of between 17 and 19 members, who will ultimately elect the party’s key “four-pillar” leadership.
If 76-year-old Nguyen Phu Trong remains in power, as predicted by analysts, his reign as party chief will be the longest since Le Duan took control following the death of revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh in 1969.
Having officially recorded just 1,549 cases of Covid-19, along with 35 deaths, Vietnam has been praised globally for its response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2020, Vietnam remained one of the world’s fastest growing economies, recording a GDP growth rate of 2.91 per cent even amid global slumps in output.
GNA