The Minister of Planning and Investment, the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment and officials of Hanoi and HCM City mounted the rostrum of the 11^th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam on January 13 to suggest breakthrough solutions to develop Vietnam.

Delegate Vo Hong Phuc, Minister of Planning and Investment

Vietnam is a country that has one the s in the region and the world. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2010 reached more than $101.6 billion, a per capita income of $1160. The production capability of many industries increased remarkably. The macro-economy was basically stable.

The most important factor for success was the Party’s leadership. The experience in coping with crisis in 2008 proves it. We have social consensus and unity in the Party, which not many countries have.

To well implement the Party’s resolutions, unity inside the Party, from grassroots to central levels, is very important. From my own experience, I see a lesson: if Party members know their positions and abide by the Party assigments, it will be successful. I have well performed my job thanks to the Party’s assignment.

In the coming time, I think that we need to attach importance to the quality, effectiveness and sustainability of development, to ensure macro-economic stability, to harmonize the relationship between the speed and quality of growth.

In the last ten years, Vietnam’s economy has developed quickly but we have to pay special attention to the sustainability of development to timely change the model of growth, to harmonize the ties between development in the width and in the depth and to balance between the speed and quality of development.

Delegate Pham Khoi Nguyen, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment

Firstly, we should balance the development of the economy and ensure social welfares, protection of the environment, cop with climate change, building our internal strength in order to use and develop technologies that help save natural resources and develop the green economy.

Secondly, we need to speed up economizing mechanisms that will drastically change and integrate the “ask-give” and administrative control mechanisms in managing natural resources and protecting the environment into the market mechanism.

Thirdly, it is necessary to complete the current legal system to deal with the overlap, conflict and vague responsibility in management.

In addition, we need to raise the awareness of the threat of environmental pollution, climate change and the sea rise level to the country’s sustainable development.

It is forecasted that Vietnam will be among the top countries influenced by climate change. Many coastal areas, a large part of the Mekong Delta and the Red River Delta will be flooded by the sea rise level in the future. If the sea rises by one meter, 90 percent of the area of the Mekong Delta will be flooded, causing losses equivalent to 10 percent of the country’s GDP.

In the coming time, Vietnam needs to complete the system of environmental state management agencies of environment. Currently Vietnam has only ten environmental managing experts per one million people while the rate is 20 in China, 30 in Thailand and 100 in Malaysia.

Delegate Vu Hong Khanh, Hanoi’s Vice Chair

Vietnam is capable and has good conditions to successfully implement policies to develop the knowledge-based economy. This policy should be considered as the core of the social-economic development strategy to turn Vietnam into a modern industrialized country.

Priority needs to be given to the construction of two national hi-tech centers in Hanoi and HCM City, which will be the model and the motive force to develop Vietnam’s science and technology industry.

Vietnam should develop regional industrial and hi-tech zones, with technological and modern business nurseries as the nucleus, to replace old-model industrial zones which have shown many disadvantages and even hindered development.

Vietnam needs to attract transnational groups, which have powerful scientific-technological and financial potentials, to invest in Vietnam, to encourage them to build research-development centers as the channel to spread technological knowledge to the entire economy.

Delegate Nguyen Van Dua, HCM City’s Vice Party Secretary

In the period of the planned economy, many provinces gradually expand geological areas to build local economies of fully-fledged structures (with industry and agriculture). When the country transformed to a market economy, the economy structure of provinces has not clearly changed even though many provinces split to and became smaller.

We have formed economic regions, especially three key economic regions in the north, the south and the central regions. This situation has resulted in the dispersion of the country’s resources, public investment and even private investment. Key economic regions don’t have the strength of association among provinces in the same regions.

The concept of transforming economic structure needs to be considered in the national scale and regional scale to make associations in economic functions of local governments.

For HCM City, based on the history of development and historically economic relations with the Mekong Delta, the southeastern region and the Central Highlands, the city has been the nucleus in the structural relations of the southern economic region. An appropriate policy and mechanism for HCM City will help raise the quality of economic growth and sustainable development for the entire southern economic region and create the motivational force for the development of the whole southeastern region, the Central Highlands and the Mekong Delta.

* Vietnam has three key economic region: 1/ the northern key economic region, which covers eight northern provinces of Hanoi, Hai Phong, Quang Ninh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Ha Tay, Vinh Phuc and Bac Ninh; 2/ the central key economic region which includes five province in central Vietnam – Da Nang, Thua Thien-Hue city, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh; 3/ the southern key economic region which covers HCM City, Dong Nai, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh, Binh Phuoc and Long An.

The three key economic regions are designed as the driving force for economic development in the northern, the central and the southern region.

Hoang Binh Quan, delegate from Tuyen Quang province, chief of the Party Central Committee’s Foreign Relations Department

Over the past 25 years of doi moi (renewal), particularly during the implementation of Platform 1991, the Communist Party of Vietnam has ceaselessly expanded and enhanced diversified relations with political parties from other countries across the world. The Party has participated in international forums, conferences and workshops with other communist parties, workers’ parties and left-winged parties in Asia.

We have also extended relations with ruling parties. The CPV has relations with over 200 political parties in 115 countries, of which 100 are communist parties and workers’ parties and 40 are ruling parties. Taking the leading position in our Party’s relations are communist ruling parties from socialist countries and neighbouring nations, including Laos, China, Cambodia, Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Overall, during the 10th tenure, the Party’s external relations, along with the State’s foreign affairs and people’s external activities, have made great contributions to the nation’s diplomacy.

Via Party relations, ties with other countries have been promoted and Vietnam’s standing on the international arena has increased. Via exchanges with political parties, we have gained more international experience in national construction and defence as well as how to resolve socio-economic issues.

We have also cemented ties between the country’s top leaders with leading politicians in other countries, creating a common sense and consensus in long-term and stable relations with their countries. They have developed a proper and accurate understanding of Vietnam to the extent that they can involve the country in the making and implementation of their nation’s policies. In some cases, via party ties, we have resolved existing or newly-emerging issues in the relations between Vietnam and other countries.

However, the external relations activities of the Party need to be more practical in terms of delegation exchanges and more self-motivated in our role at political forums. Improvements should be made in researching and forecasting situations arising in other parties as well as their development trends.

PV