Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc: 'Birds will fly fast if all birds have the same aspiration'

Paving a stone on the road of history

Opening his speech at the question and answer session before the National Assembly on the afternoon of November 1, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc thanked the National Assembly deputies for their trust in the Prime Minister as well as the members of the Government and emphasized that the results of the National Assembly's vote of confidence, whether high or low, have the same meaning of urging the Government to better perform the tasks of national development, which still face many challenges ahead.

During the 10-day session, the National Assembly spent many days discussing, questioning and giving opinions on many socio-economic, budgetary and law-making issues, including important issues of the country. “The opinions were extremely diverse and profound, even conflicting, but all were very frank and enthusiastic, demonstrating the concern and responsibility of the Delegates towards the voters as well as towards the country,” the Prime Minister emphasized.

Although there have been ups and downs like any other country, overall, compared to the world average, Vietnam's economic growth in the three decades since Doi Moi has been impressive. The average economic growth in the period 1986-2017 reached 6.63%/year. The average growth in the last 20 years was 6.3%/year, the last 10 years increased by 6%/year, in 2017 alone it increased by 6.81%, and in 2018 it is expected to increase by over 6.7%. Vietnam has moved from the low-income group to the middle-income group, the poverty rate has decreased from over 60% to about 7% and the size of the economy is now ranked 44th in the world by nominal GDP and 34th when calculated by international purchasing power parity.

The size of the economy has increased more than 17.4 times, from 14 billion USD in 1985 to an estimated 244 billion USD in 2018. Per capita income in 1985 was only 230 USD, now it has increased to nearly 2,540 USD (in terms of purchasing power parity, it is nearly 7,640 USD). The income gap between Vietnam and other countries has narrowed significantly.

To protect the achievements and fully achieve the development goals, according to the Prime Minister, is a difficult journey, requiring us to constantly innovate and reform, always be steadfast with our ideals, and make efforts and determination in many stages.,not only in this term but also in the next terms.

“Our generation today needs to be deeply aware of the heavy responsibility of paving a stone on the historical path towards prosperity for the nation,” the Prime Minister said, emphasizing that the task requires us to continue to innovate our thinking, ways of thinking and doing, create determination of the entire political system, promote the great national unity bloc, and well implement all policies and guidelines of the Party.

Innovation in thinking and perception

“When we were poor, our needs might have been just “full stomach and warm clothes”, but as society becomes more prosperous, our needs are not only “delicious food and beautiful clothes”, but also a more open development space, more integrated with global progress trends” - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc stated clearly and said that clearly there is no growth measure that can quantify all of these needs of the people.

“From economic development to sustainable development, then inclusive development is not simply a change of name but behind it are different connotations, demonstrating the process of renewing our thinking and awareness of what is considered the ultimate purpose and meaning of development, of the progressive and civilized values ​​of humanity,” the head of the Government affirmed.

The Prime Minister said that according to the World Bank's forecast, each year Vietnam has about 1.5 million people joining the middle class, which shows that households are still climbing higher on the economic ladder after escaping poverty. This is the driving force for Vietnam's economic growth in the coming time. Our task is to create a favorable environment to promote rapid and sustainable poverty reduction, so that all people have the opportunity to move forward together and not be left behind.

“There is a saying: “A flock of birds wants to fly fast, not only depends on the leader bird but also on the last bird”. But I would also like to share with the delegates: the flock of birds will fly much faster if all the last birds have the same aspiration, surpass themselves, fly even faster to have the opportunity to join the leading group” - the Prime Minister emphasized and pointed out.If all 63 provinces and cities and the entire political system share that aspiration, in all circumstances on each stage of the country's development, then surely Vietnam will take a very long step towards prosperity.

Before the National Assembly, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc requested all members of the Government and all cadres and civil servants in the entire state administrative system to fully understand and grasp this spirit; more specifically, strictly implement Regulation No. 08-QD/TW dated October 25, 2018 of the Central Executive Committee stipulating the exemplary responsibility of cadres and party members, first of all, members of the Politburo, members of the Secretariat, and members of the Central Executive Committee.

“As stated by General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong at the inauguration ceremony: We absolutely must not be complacent, complacent, too intoxicated with victory, and even more so, we must not rest on our laurels. I suggest that we all focus our efforts together and do our best to fulfill our tasks in the remaining months of 2018 as well as the remaining time of this term,” the head of the Government emphasized./.