OP-ED: Vietnam working to develop a society truly for people

Building a society in which development is truly for the sake of the people is a core and consistent issue in the writings by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in his recently published book titled “Some theoretical and practical issues on socialism and the path towards socialism in Vietnam”.

The Vietnamese Party and State have been exerting efforts to build a new society in tandem with developing the economy, culture, education, health care and unceasingly improving the people’s material and spiritual life, showing the good nature of the socialist regime.

In the article titled “Some theoretical and practical issues on socialism and the path towards socialism in Vietnam”, General Secretary Trong stressed the people is at the heart of the development strategies, and that cultural and human development is both the goal and impulse of the “Doi moi” (Renewal).

Over the past 35 years of “Doi moi”, the country has obtained significant and historic accomplishments, strong and comprehensive development, and considerable improvements to the people’s material and spiritual life. During that process, it has focused on thoroughly dealing with social issues, especially social security and welfare.

Assoc. Prof. and Dr. Nguyen Danh Tien, Director of the Party History Institute at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, said social affairs have always attracted the Party and State’s special attention, which has demonstrated the superiority of the socialist regime in Vietnam.

The Party’s core viewpoint is that social policy must be for the people and centre on the people, and to implement an inclusive development policy so that all people can directly and equally benefit from development attainments, and no one is left behind, he noted.

Statistics show that per capita income in Vietnam increased from 200 USD in 1990 to 1,168 USD in 2010 and over 3,500 USD in 2021. The household poverty rate was brought down from 58.1 percent in 1993 to 9.88 percent in 2015 and 2.75 percent in 2020. The country has become one of the world’s role models in poverty alleviation.

Terence D. Jones, an official from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Office in Vietnam, said Vietnam is in the top group among the three of the countries in the world with the fastest progress in working towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and also one of the best Asian performers in implementing the global goals.

Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), also highly valued the country’s achievements in realising the SDGs, especially in poverty reduction.

Those outcomes reflect the Party and State’s consistent policy of making tireless efforts so that the people can enjoy a well-off, free, and happy life and have conditions to develop comprehensively, thereby creating momentum for attaining the goal of “rich people and a strong, democratic, fair, and civilised country”.

So far, Vietnam has become a member of almost all international conventions on human rights and committed to perform all of its duties under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and those conventions. The implementation of those duties also aims to better carry out the Party and State’s policies on human rights and people protection.

In his article, General Secretary Trong emphasised that each economic policy must be oriented towards social development, each social policy must aim at creating momentum for economic development, and legal enrichment must be encouraged in tandem with sustainable poverty reduction and care for revolution contributors and disadvantaged people.

In the COVID-19 fight, the Vietnamese Government has implemented many policies oriented towards the people, protecting the people, and giving the top priority to the people’s lives, health, and life.

Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP Resident Representative in Vietnam, held that putting people’s health at the centre of the COVID-19 response is a sound approach.

Another highlight is that the country has worked to protect human rights in the context of climate change. Director-General of the UN Office in Geneva Tatiana Valovaya noted Vietnam is a developing country but has played a leading role and been an examplery in the climate change combat.

Caring for the people and working for the sake of the people have been demonstrated throughout the development process of Vietnam’s revolution and always the top goal that the Party and State have been aiming at./.

VNA