9th Party Congress: The country enters a new century

Ninth Party Congress

Time:April 19 to 22, 2001

Location:Hanoi

Number of delegates attending the Congress:1,168

Number of party members in the country:nearly 2.5 million

The Congress elected:

- General Secretary: Comrade Nong Duc Manh

- Central Executive Committee: 150 members

- Politburo: 15 comrades

GENERAL CONTEXT:

- End of the 20th century and entering the 21st century. Globalization is taking place strongly.

Bilateral and multilateral relations between countries are increasingly deepening in many fields.

The scientific and technological revolution, especially information technology and biotechnology, continues to develop by leaps and bounds, becoming a direct productive force, promoting the development of the knowledge economy, rapidly shifting the economic structure and profoundly changing all areas of social life.

- Important achievements after 15 years of renovation have created momentum and momentum to push our country's renovation process into depth. Besides, we still have to deal with challenges: lagging further behind economically compared to many countries in the region and the world, deviating from socialism, bureaucratic corruption, and "peaceful evolution" caused by hostile forces.

PROMOTING THE STRENGTH OF THE WHOLE NATION, PROMOTING INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MODERNIZATION

The Congress looked back on 71 years of leading the Vietnamese revolution; summarized 5 years of implementing the Resolution of the 8th Congress; 15 years of national renovation, 10 years of implementing the socio-economic strategy, drew lessons from which to develop and perfect guidelines, set out a national development strategy in the first 20 years of the 21st century; outlined the direction and tasks of building our Party to meet the demands of the nation in the new period; and revised and supplemented the Party Charter.

The Congress adopted the Political Report titled "Promoting the strength of the entire nation, continuing innovation, accelerating industrialization and modernization, building and defending the socialist Vietnamese Fatherland".

The Congress assessed: Implementing the Strategy for socio-economic stability and development (1991-2000), we have achieved great and very important achievements. The economy, from a state of serious commodity shortages, has now produced enough to meet the essential needs of the people and the economy; from a centralized, bureaucratic, subsidized management mechanism, it has shifted to a socialist-oriented market mechanism; from a place with mainly only two economic components, the state economy and the collective economy, it has shifted to a multi-component economy, in which the state economy plays the leading role. The lives of all classes of people have improved. The country has emerged from the socio-economic crisis; broken the embargo, expanded foreign relations and proactively integrated into the international economy.

Regarding the experiences after 15 years of implementing the renovation policy, the Congress pointed out the main lessons. That is, in the renovation process, we must persevere in the goal of national independence and socialism on the foundation of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh thought. Renovation must rely on the people, for the benefit of the people, be consistent with reality, and always be creative. Renovation must combine national strength with the strength of the times. The Party's correct guidelines are the decisive factor for the success of the renovation cause.

Regarding the socio-economic development policy, the 9th Party Congress clearly stated: Promote industrialization and modernization, build an independent and self-reliant economy, turn our country into an industrialized country; prioritize the development of productive forces, and at the same time build appropriate production relations in line with the socialist orientation; promote internal strength to the maximum, while taking advantage of external resources and proactively integrating into the international economy for rapid, effective and sustainable development; economic growth goes hand in hand with cultural development, gradually improve the material and spiritual life of the people, realize social progress and equity, protect and improve the environment; combine socio-economic development with strengthening national defense and security.

The goal of the 10-year Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2001-2010 is: To bring our country out of underdevelopment, significantly improve the material and spiritual life of the people, and create a foundation for our country to basically become a modern industrialized country by 2020. Human resources, scientific and technological capacity, infrastructure, economic potential, national defense and security are strengthened; the socialist-oriented market economic institution is basically formed; our country's position in the international arena is enhanced.

The Congress elected a Central Committee of 150 comrades. Comrade Nong Duc Manh was elected General Secretary of the Party.

DOMESTIC EVENTS

- April 29, 2000: Prime Minister Pham Van Dong passed away.

- May 21, 2000: Inauguration of My Thuan Bridge, Tien Giang.

- July 13, 2000: Vietnam and the US signed a Trade Agreement. More than a year later, on December 11, 2001, the Vietnam - US Trade Agreement officially took effect.

- July 20, 2000: Opening the stock market in Vietnam, putting the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange into operation.

- September 7-9, 2000: President Tran Duc Luong attended the Millennium Summit at the United Nations.

- November 16 to 19, 2000: US President Bill Clinton paid an official visit to Vietnam.

- December 2000: Vietnam and China signed an agreement on demarcation of territorial waters, exclusive economic zones and continental shelves in the Gulf of Tonkin (during the official visit to China of President Tran Duc Luong from December 25 to 29)

- December 28, 2000: Declaration of completion of universal primary education and illiteracy eradication nationwide.

- February 28 to March 2, 2001: Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Vietnam.

- June 27, 2001: Comrade Nguyen Van An was elected Chairman of the National Assembly at the 9th session of the 10th National Assembly.

- October 10, 2001: Inauguration of Passenger Terminal T1, Noi Bai International Airport.

- October 26, 2001: Vietnam was elected to the Executive Board of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

- December 25, 2001: The 10th session of the 10th National Assembly passed a Resolution amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 1992 Constitution.

- December 27, 2001: The first land border marker planting ceremony between Vietnam and China at Mong Cai international border gate (Quang Ninh).

INTERNATIONAL EVENTS

- March 26, 2000: Mr. V. Putin was elected President of Russia.

- May 24, 2000: Israel completed its withdrawal from southern Lebanon, ending 22 years of occupation of this land.

- June 13-15, 2000: Inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, opening the reconciliation process between the two Koreas after 55 years of division.

- June 26, 2000: Discovered 97% of human genetic code, 85% of genetic data and decoded 99% of human genome, opening a new era for biotechnology.

- August 12, 2000: The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea, killing 118 sailors.

- December 11, 2000: The European Union (EU) reached an agreement on institutional reform, aiming to expand this bloc.

- March 7, 2001: Mr. Ariel Sharon took office as Prime Minister of Israel.

- April 28, 2001: American businessman Dennis Tito, 60 years old, became the first space tourist to the International Space Station (ISS).

- June 7, 2001: British Prime Minister Tony Blair won a historic second term.

- September 11, 2001: The United States was attacked by terrorists in Washington and New York, killing nearly 3,000 people.

- December 5, 2001: Russia and the United States announced the completion of arms reductions in the spirit of the Strategic Offensive Arms Reduction Treaty Phase 1 (START-I).

- December 11, 2001: China became the 143rd member of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

- December 13, 2001: The US withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) signed in 1972.