Addressing a national conference reviewing the Government’s performance in 2025 and outlining tasks for 2026, held on January 8, Party General Secretary To Lam commended the Government, ministries, local authorities, the business community, and the people at home and abroad for their concerted efforts and achievements in 2025 and throughout the 2021–2025 period.

Party General Secretary To Lam on January 8 delivered a
keynote address at a national conference reviewing the Government’s performance
in 2025 and outlining tasks for 2026, calling for a strong and substantive
shift from a management-oriented mindset to one that actively creates
development, while firmly ending buck-passing and the avoidance of
responsibility, according to a report from the Vietnam News Agency.

The conference was chaired by the Government and held in a
hybrid format connecting the Government Headquarters with all 34 provinces and
cities.

General Secretary Lam commended the Government, ministries,
local authorities, the business community, and the people at home and abroad
for their concerted efforts and achievements in 2025 and throughout the
2021–2025 period. At the same time, he stressed the need to frankly acknowledge
persistent shortcomings and newly emerging challenges, many of which reflect
deep-rooted structural bottlenecks in the development model and national
governance system.

According to the Party leader, 2026 is a pivotal year that
will shape Vietnam’s long-term growth trajectory. Achieving a GDP growth rate
of at least 10%, he noted, is highly challenging amid weakening traditional
growth drivers and mounting constraints in productivity, competitiveness and
growth quality.

Old approaches are no longer fit for new requirements, he
said, calling for fundamental reforms in development thinking, governance
methods, resource allocation, and a much stronger push for decentralization and
delegation of authority, accompanied by deep, decisive and effective reforms.

Regarding orientations and tasks for the upcoming period,
the General Secretary highlighted the need to remove institutional bottlenecks
to unlock stalled resources; maintain macro-economic stability; control
inflation and safeguard major economic balances. Fiscal and monetary policies
should be closely coordinated, flexible and technically sound, guided by market
principles rather than excessive administrative intervention. Credit, he said,
must be restructured towards production, business and priority sectors, while
speculative and non-productive activities are curbed.

The top leader also called for substantial improvements in
the investment and business environment, including expanded decentralization,
streamlined procedures and reduced compliance costs for citizens and
enterprises. He firmly rejected the mindset of “banning what cannot be
managed,” stressing the necessity to strictly protect property rights and
freedom of business, and prevent any abuse of inspections or investigations to
harass businesses and the public.

A central strategic direction highlighted in his address was
the fundamental transformation of the growth model, placing productivity,
high-quality human resources, science and technology, and innovation at the
core of development strategy. This, he said, is the key to escaping the
middle-income trap and sustaining rapid and inclusive growth. The economy
should be restructured along green, digital and circular lines, with science,
technology, innovation and digital transformation serving as both new growth engines
and catalysts for renewing traditional ones.

General Secretary Lam urged building a modern, integrated
system of strategic infrastructure as a foundation for national
competitiveness, while calling for the concentration of resources on
breakthrough, strategic infrastructure projects, particularly national
transport corridors, railways, airports, seaports, energy and digital
infrastructure.

He highlighted the imperative of ensuring energy security,
especially clean energy, stressing that power shortages must not be allowed to
occur. At the same time, he called for the development of next-generation
digital infrastructure, including widespread 5G coverage, 6G research, the
expansion of data centers, and deeper participation in high-tech value chains,
with the goal of launching a semiconductor manufacturing project.

The Party leader also underlined the need for a fundamental
overhaul of public investment implementation, positioning it as a driver that
leads development, creates spillover effects and mobilizes private-sector
resources.

On governance and implementation, the General Secretary
stressed the need to strengthen the execution capacity of the state apparatus
under conditions of stronger decentralization. Authority must go hand in hand
with resources and accountability, while administrative discipline and the
responsibility of leaders must be tightened. He proposed designating 2026 as a
year to enhance the quality of grassroots-level officials, alongside continued
streamlining of the organizational apparatus to make it leaner, more efficient
and effective.

The Party General Secretary stressed that education and
training must be closely aligned with labor market needs and priority
technology- and industry-driven sectors, while raising foundational skills,
particularly digital skills, across the workforce.

He underscored the need for balanced and comprehensive
development across socio-cultural sectors, with a focus on improving living
standards and ensuring social security. Alongside preserving and promoting
national cultural values, Vietnam should foster cultural industries, particularly
cinema, cultural tourism and performing arts, as a new growth driver. Priority
was given to public health improvement under the Politburo’s Resolution No. 72,
completing more than 110,000 social housing units in 2026, advancing the
one-million-unit target by 2028, and finishing 248 inter-level schools in
border areas.

The Party chief also called for proactive climate change
adaptation, stronger disaster prevention and environmental protection, with
emphasis on early warning and response to extreme weather, floods and
landslides. He urged faster development of national land and real estate
databases to enhance transparency, decisive action to tackle urban pollution,
effective climate adaptation in the Mekong Delta and disaster mitigation in
other vulnerable regions, and the sustainable use of rare earth resources in
support of emerging industries.

In addition, he stressed the firm consolidation of national defense
and security, the maintenance of social order, and the continued pursuit of a
foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, and multilateralisation and
diversification. He highlighted the importance of ensuring absolute security
for major political events, particularly the upcoming 14th National Party
Congress and the elections of deputies to the 16th National Assembly and the
People’s Councils at all levels for the 2026–2031 term, strengthening
cybersecurity and digital security, advancing economic and technology
diplomacy, preparing thoroughly for APEC 2027, and promoting cultural, people-to-people,
and science and technology diplomacy.

General Secretary Lam expressed confidence that Vietnam now
has sufficient momentum, capacity and determination to enter a new era of
prosperous and sustainable development. He called on the Government, ministries
and localities to act with unity, resolve and a heightened sense of
responsibility to successfully fulfil the tasks set for 2026 and beyond,
turning emerging opportunities into concrete outcomes for national development.

VNA-Pham Long