Over the 91 years since its establishment, the Communist Party of Vietnam has led the country to take firm steps forwards and make historic contributions for the sake of national independence, liberation, and development and the people's happiness. The 13th National Party Congress is a significant political event of the party and the State of Vietnam expects that it will elect an unyielding and effective leaders for the new tenure, which will win over people's wholehearted support and trust to continue leading the country's socialism building to greater success.
The congress would set forth a vision to mid-21st century, aiming to turn the country into a socialist-oriented developed country, while making sure that continuity and cumulative improvements will be present throughout the entire socialist building efforts. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country is considered the world's success story as its economic growth has been among the world's strongest over the past decade. Assessing the Vietnamese economic achievements, many international organisations have recently noted the country as "a legendary story", "a rising star", or "the brightest economy" in Asia.
These achievements have been recognised and appreciated by the international community. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), Vietnam has created a "miraculous story" in poverty reduction with its human development index (HDI) of 0.63 in 2019, ranked 118 out of 189 countries and in the group of countries with the highest HDI growth rate in the world.
The country was ranked eighth in the list of the world's best economies to invest in 2019, up 15 places compared to 2018, and its competitiveness was ranked 67 out of 141 countries and territories by the World Economic Forum, up 10 places compared to 2018. A recent report from the World Bank (WB) also estimated that, from 2010 to 2020, the human capital index of Vietnam increased from 0.66 to 0.69, which continues to be higher than the average rate of countries with the same income level.
Moreover, the United Nations Sustainable Development Report 2020 stated that Vietnam is the only Southeast Asian country to achieve five UN action targets, including measures to reduce CO2 emissions, promote renewable power and improve resilience to climate change. The country's annual average GDP growth reached 6 per cent during the 2016-2020 period, along with achievements in education-training, science-technology, culture and social affairs, with the poverty rate dropping to below 3 per cent.
More importantly, in the context of devastrating pandemic throughout the world, the year 2020 witnessed Vietnam stand out as an outlier, praised globally for excellent pandemic control and keeping losses to the economy and human lives to a minimum. The country has been seen as a bright spot in a bleak picture of the world economy, becoming one of the 10 economies with the highest GDP growth in 2020.
The story of Vietnam's successful Covid-19 fight is hardly a miracle, however, what it did was take some simple and straightforward measures like imposing travel restrictions, contact tracing and social distancing. But what made this work were the Communist Party of Vietnam's effective leadership and social unity and cohesion.
The 13th National Party Congress is promised to make a crucial power transition to the next leader generation of Comunist Party of Vietnam, which will continue to set out right directions, helping Vietnam become more prosperous and affirm its important position in resolving common issues of the region and the world.
The Congress is believed to realise strategic goals till 2030 when the Party will celebrate its 100th founding anniversary, as well as make foundation for socio-economic development orientations till 2045, when Vietnam marks its 100th anniversary.