(VOVWORLD) -2025 is a crucial year, the final year of implementing the 5-year Socio-Economic Development Plan 2021-2025, the year of acceleration, breakthrough, and reaching the finish line, Party General Secretary To Lam said and stressed the urgent need to carry out the comprehensive economic management reform.
 Party General Secretary To Lam speaks at the conference. Photo: VOV |
The Party leader addressed an online conference on Wednesday connected to all 63 centrally run cities and provinces across the nation to review operations of the Government and local administrations in 2024 and map out tasks for 2025. President Luong Cuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man were among the attendees.
At the meeting, General Secretary Lam emphasized what need to be done, saying, “It is necessary to unify awareness and action on the urgency of continuing to carry out economic reform. Vietnam has summed up 40 years of its renewal and agreed on the need to reform more strongly, decisively, aggressively, revolutionarily, and comprehensively in economic management so that Vietnam can firmly enter the era of prosperity, wealth, and development. The top priority is to streamline the organizational apparatus of the political system in line with “Refined-Lean-Strong-Productive-Effective-Efficient”. Proactiveness, creativity, self-reliance, and accountability of authorities at all levels, especially the leaders, must be upheld.”
The top leader urged the Government and localities to focus investment on the system of strategic infrastructure and to effectively and substantially restructure the economy coupled with growth model reform, to enhance national competitiveness.
“Rapid but sustainable development needs to be built on the foundation of science, technology, digital transformation and especially taking people as the center and developing high-quality human resources. A favorable environment must be created for start-up businesses, innovation and new economic values. Efforts should be made to implement fundamental and comprehensive reform in education and training, make breakthroughs in vocational education to have a well-trained, highly skilled human resource ready to meet the increasing demands of the labor market and job requirements brought about by the digital transformation process.”
The General Secretary underlined developing culture and society, and building Vietnamese people with sufficient qualities and capacities to meet the requirements of sustainable development, while ensuring social security.
According to reports delivered at the conference, in 2024 Vietnam’s GDP growth surpassed 7%, with the economy's size reaching around 470 billion USD. The inflation rate was controlled below 4%, and major balances of the economy were maintained. Total import-export turnover set a record, at around 800 billion USD, posting a trade surplus of about 24 billion USD.
Vietnam ranks among the top 15 global developing countries in terms of attracting foreign investment, with inflows reaching about 40 billion USD, with a disbursement value of about 25 billion USD. It is also one of the top 20 economies in the world in terms of international trade size, with 17 free trade agreements, making it a key link in regional and global supply chains.