1. Vietnam successfully hosts APEC Year 2017.

Themed “Creating new dynamism, fostering a shared future”, APEC Year 2017 included 243 events in 10 cities and provinces across Vietnam with the highlight being the 2017 APEC Economic Leaders' Week in Da Nang in November. As the host, Vietnam contributed many initiatives to the event, reflecting Vietnam’s prestige and rising status in Asia Pacific. During the APEC Economic Leaders' Week, Vietnamese leaders had talks with senior counterparts from around the world.

2. Resolution of 12th National Party Congress realized.

The 5^th and 6^th plenums of the 12^th Party Central Commitee issued resolutions which covered fine-tuning the socialist-oriented market economy, reforming, and improving SOEs, developing the private sector as a driving force of the national economy, streamlining the political system to increase efficiency, and improving health care and population affairs. These are currently the major, urgent and strategic issues of the nation.

3. The war on corruption, negativity intensified.

Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong’s statement “A blazing hearth will burn wet wood.” indicates a no-holds-barred fight against corruption in Vietnam. Some senior officials have been charged for corruption and prosecuted.

4. Vietnam fulfills all 13 set targets, achieves GDP growth of 6.81%.

Vietnam’s economy has grown remarkbly with less dependence on exporting natural resources. Vietnam moved up 14 places to rank 68 among 190 countries in the 15^th edition of the World Bank’s Doing Business 2018 report. Total import-export revenue this year reached 400 billion USD in mid December, while trade balance has shifted from import surplus to export surplus in 2016 and 2017. This year, vietnam’s exports saw breakthroughs in all sectors including agriculture, services, the processing industry, and manufacture. The result is attributed to the government’s management and determination to boost administrative reform with 5,000 administrative procedures being slashed. 

5. NA approves construction of north-south expressway.

The north-south expressway project won the go-ahead from the National Assembly. Some eastern sections of the expressway with a total length of 654 km spanning 13 cities and provinces will be built between now and 2020. The project costs more than 118 trillion VND (5.27 billion USD).

The National Assembly also approved a project worth around 23,000 billion VND (1 billion USD) for compensation and resettlement for the construction of Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai province.

6. Major events of 2017 celebrated.

Various activities were held across Vietnam to mark important national events. Celebrations included the 70^th anniversary of War Invalids and Martyrs Day on July 27, the 100^th anniversary of Russia’s October Revolution on November 7^th, 45^th anniversary of Hanoi-Dien Bien Phu in the air Victory, 50^th anniversary of the 1968 General Offensive and Uprising, and anniversaries of friendship and solidarity between Vietnam and Laos, and between Vietnam and Cambodia.

7. Two more heritages honored by UNESCO.

Bai choi singing of the central region and xoan singing of Phu tho province were acknowledged as human intangible heritages by UNESCO.  

The new recognition is of great importance to Vietnam, advertising national heritages to the world and reflecting the country’s commitments in preserving and promoting heritages of mankind. This also shows Vietnam’s respect of cultural diversity, its efforts to connect communities and encourage dialogue among individuals in accordance with UNESCO’s principles.

8. Vietnam earns significant sports achievements.

Vietnam won 169 medals, including 59 golds to rank third at the 29^th Sea Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vietnam's biggest success at the event came in the track and field competition with 17 gold medals. For the first time ever, Vietnam surpassed Thailand at the SEA Games arena. The Vietnamese team stood fourth in the medal tally of the ninth ASEAN Para Games in Malaysia for 2 consecutive years.

Vietnam won a total of 40 medals, including 13 golds, to finish ninth after 12 competition days of the fifth Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games (AIMAG 5) in Turkmenistan. At this event, Grandmaster Le Quang Liem won 3 gold medals in the rapid and blitz chess and team event, and in the men’s individual standard category.

Vietnam also successfully hosted the Southeast Asian Futsal Championship 2017 and the National Futsal League.

9. Natural disasters cause severe damage across Vietnam.

Continuous storms and downpours from early August until November led to dozens of floods and flash floods, causing terrible landslides in northwestern and central regions. Damrey that hit Khanh Hoa province left more than 100 people dead and missing. At the end of 2017, Kai-tak and Tembin storms with torrential rains battered southern provinces. Natural disasters claimed more than 380 lives, damaged vast cultivated areas and civil infrastructure worth hundreds of millions of USD in 2017. 

10. Shortcomings in the management of BOT (Build-operate-transfer) projects have been revealed while the number of traffic accidents remained high.