10 outstanding events of Vietnam in 2021

Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary and President, on behalf of the 13th Central Executive Committee, delivered a speech at the 13th National Party Congress. (Photo: VNA)

1. The 13th National Congress of the Party was a great success:Taking place from January 25 to February 1, 2021 in Hanoi, the 13th National Congress of the Party was a great success, leaving a strong impression of a Congress of "Solidarity - Democracy - Discipline - Creativity - Development"; arousing the aspiration to develop a prosperous and happy country; promoting the will and strength of great national unity; comprehensively and synchronously promoting the innovation, industrialization and modernization. The Congress determined the country's development goals for the next 5 and 10 years and turning Vietnam into a developed country, following a socialist orientation by 2045.

2. Nearly 70 million voters nationwide go to the polls to elect National Assembly deputies and People's Council deputies at all levels:On May 23, 2021, 99.6% of voters nationwide went to the polls, exercising their rights and obligations as citizens, electing 499 deputies to the 15th National Assembly; 3,721 deputies to provincial People's Councils, 22,550 deputies to district People's Councils and 239,788 deputies to commune People's Councils for the 2021-2026 term.

Officers and soldiers of Son Ca island cast their votes for the election of deputies to the 15th National Assembly and People's Councils at all levels for the 2021-2026 term, one week earlier than on the mainland. (Photo: VNA)

The election took place democratically, legally, and safely in the context of the entire political system, people, and army making efforts to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic.

3. Redirecting COVID-19 prevention strategy:The fourth outbreak with the emergence of the super-infectious Delta variant has reversed previous achievements in epidemic prevention and control with the number of infections and deaths increasing in many localities across the country, especially in the southern provinces and cities. The Party and the State have shifted their epidemic prevention strategy from "zero cases" to achieving the dual goal. The implementation of Resolution 128/NQ-CP issued on October 11, 2021 on safe and flexible adaptation and effective control of the epidemic, with the ultimate goal of protecting people's lives and health, has helped control the epidemic, restore the socio-economy, and gradually stabilize people's lives.

In the fourth wave of the epidemic, the whole country recorded 1,630,851 cases, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the epidemic to 1,636,455; the number of deaths is 31,007 and 1,229,684 people have recovered.

4. Successful implementation of vaccine strategy:The Party and State have mobilized all resources and determined to implement the COVID-19 vaccine strategy for the goal of community immunity with the following solutions: Establishing a Vaccine Fund; conducting vaccine diplomacy; researching and producing vaccines domestically; organizing a free vaccination campaign on an unprecedented scale in history, with a period of reaching a rate 30% higher than the world average.

Preparing COVID-19 vaccine for people. (Source: VNA)

As of December 25, nearly 98% of the population aged 18 and over had received one dose, an increase of nearly 4 times, and more than 86% had received two doses, an increase of more than 25 times compared to the end of August 2021. Booster doses and vaccination for adolescents aged 12 to under 18 are also being urgently deployed.

5. Issue 5 important documents on Party building and rectification:In the first year of the XIII Congress, the Party issued: Conclusion No. 01-KL/TW of the Politburo on continuing to implement Directive No. 05-CT/TW dated May 15, 2016 "On promoting the study and following of Ho Chi Minh's ideology, morality and lifestyle"; Conclusion No. 21-KL/TW, the 4th Central Conference of the XIII term "on promoting the building and rectification of the Party and the political system" and Regulation No. 37-QD/TW "on things that Party members are not allowed to do", these three documents have many new points, supplements in terms of scope, goals, solutions...; Conclusion No. 14-KL/TW on encouraging and protecting dynamic, creative, daring to think, daring to do cadres and Regulation No. 41-QD/TW on dismissal and resignation of cadres, two documents with regulations issued for the first time.

6. National Cultural Conference stimulates endogenous resources, UNESCO continues to honor Vietnamese culture:The National Cultural Conference to implement the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress identified 6 specific goals and 10 key solutions, continuing to strongly arouse the spirit of patriotism, self-reliance, and aspiration to develop a prosperous country; preserve national identity, develop Vietnamese culture in the new period; promote enormous endogenous resources to successfully implement the country's development goals to 2030, with a vision to 2045. This event took place on November 24, 2021, exactly 75 years after the first National Cultural Conference.

President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and other Party and State leaders and former leaders visit the exhibition "Culture lights the way for the nation". (Photo: Doan Tan/VNA)

On December 15, 2021, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) officially recognized the Thai Xoe Dance as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Previously, on November 23, the UNESCO General Assembly decided to honor and celebrate: the 200th anniversary of the birth of the famous person Nguyen Dinh Chieu; the 250th anniversary of the birth and 200th anniversary of the death of poetess Ho Xuan Huong in 2022.

7. Vietnam actively participates in multilateral cooperation mechanisms:At the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26), Vietnam pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to “zero” by 2050, cut methane emissions by 30% by 2030 compared to 2020, etc., affirming Vietnam's strong political determination in promoting the transformation of the economic model to green growth and comprehensively responding to climate change.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the 26th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP26). (Photo: Duong Giang/VNA)

In addition, Vietnam continues to make active and responsible contributions within the framework of ASEAN, AIPA, ASEM, ASEP, APEC, APPF, etc., successfully completing its second term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council; being re-elected to the United Nations International Law Commission for the 2023-2027 term, and elected as a member of the UNESCO Executive Council for the 2021-2025 term.

8. Major economic fluctuations and efforts to maintain some growth pillars:GDP in the third quarter of 2021 decreased by 6.17% compared to the same period last year, the deepest decline since Vietnam started calculating and announcing quarterly GDP due to the impact of the fourth wave of COVID-19. The service and industrial production sectors in the South recorded a sharp decline and up to 60% of people lost their jobs or had their income reduced in the third quarter.

Employees of the company assemble equipment in the production line of the automobile and motorbike industry. (Photo: Tuan Duc/VNA)

The National Assembly and the Government have made strong decisions to remove difficulties, support people and businesses, and unleash all investment and production resources to achieve the dual goal of "both preventing the epidemic and developing the economy". Thanks to that, Vietnam has achieved and exceeded a number of important economic targets: budget revenue reached the target one month ahead of schedule, estimated at VND 1,471 trillion, exceeding 9.5% of the estimate and 3% higher than the Government's target; exports exceeded 335 billion USD and had a trade surplus of about 3 billion USD, becoming a country with a trade surplus for 6 consecutive years; attracting foreign direct investment reached more than 29 billion USD. The agricultural sector continues to be a solid pillar of the economy with a growth rate of 2.8%.

9. First time putting into operation the national population database system:The national population database system, which was put into operation from July 1, 2021, is an important foundation in the development of e-Government, digital government, and digital society. Along with the completion of the goal of issuing electronic chip-embedded citizen identification cards, for the first time, basic information about Vietnamese citizens has been standardized, digitized, and put into an interconnected system serving state management, as well as transactions of agencies, organizations, and individuals in a modern, convenient, and economical manner.

10. Vietnamese sports achieved impressive results in difficult context:The Vietnamese men's football team entered the third qualifying round of the 2022 World Cup for the first time in history. The Futsal team qualified for the FIFA Futsal World Cup finals for the second time, showing remarkable progress despite having to stop in the round of 16. In terms of individual achievements, disabled weightlifter Le Van Cong won the silver medal in the men's 49kg category at the 2020 Paralympics in Japan; female boxer Nguyen Thi Thu Nhi became the first Vietnamese boxer to win the WBO World Lightweight Championship.

According to VNA