The 13th National Party Congress opened on Monday morning in Ha Noi with the attendance of 1,578 delegates chosen from nearly 5.2 million Party members nationwide. 

On the first working day, the delegates will adopt working regulations, working agenda, and election regulations of the Congress as well as report on verifying eligibility of delegates to the Congress.

The delegates will then work in groups to study documents submitted to the Congress scheduled to run through February 2.

The Party Congress will review the implementation of previous Congress’ Resolution in association with the 35-year renewal process, 30-year implementation of the 1991 Platform, 10-year implementation of the 2011 Platform (amended) and implementation of the 2011-2020 socio-economic development strategy.

The Congress will charter the socio-economic development orientations and tasks for 2021 - 2025, as well as the goals and orientations for 2030 and the national development vision to 2045.

It will also review the Party building work and the leadership of the 12th Party Central Committee, and elect a new Party Central Committee for the 13th tenure.

Previous Congresses

The Communist Party of Viet Nam was founded and trained by President Ho Chi Minh.

The first Congress took place in 1935, which was an important historical event, making the success of the struggle to keep and restore the system of Party organizations from the central to the grassroots levels, uniting revolutionary movements under the leadership of the Party Central Committee, and creating conditions for revolutionary movements to enter a new period of struggle.

The second Congress, which was held in 1951, decided to make the Party’s activities public under the name of the Workers’ Party of Viet Nam and adopted the Political Platform, Statutes and Declaration of the Party.

The Party Central Committee elected at the congress consisted of 29 members. Ho Chi Minh was elected Party Chairman. The Politburo elected by the Party Central Committee comprised seven official members: Ho Chi Minh, Truong Chinh, Le Duan, Pham Van Dong, Vo Nguyen Giap, Nguyen Chi Thanh, Hoang Quoc Viet, and one alternate member who was Le Van Luong. Truong Chinh was re-elected General Secretary of the Party Central Committee.

The third Congress, held in 1960, pointed out fundamental tasks of the first five-year plan (1961-1965), including:

+ Exerting efforts to develop industry and agriculture, prioritizing the development of heavy industry, and developing agriculture comprehensively

+ Completing the socialist transformation of agriculture, handicraft industry and trade

+ Improving people’s educational level

+ Improving the working people’s material and spiritual lives and

+ Consolidating national defense, strengthening order and security, and protecting the socialism building in the north.

The fourth Congress in 1976 decided directions for the socialist revolution in Viet Nam after the country was fully liberated and reunited.

The directions are as follows: firmly grasping the dictatorship of the proletariat, promoting the right to collective mastery of working people; simultaneously conducting three revolutions on production relations, science-technology, and ideology and culture, with the revolution on science-technology as the key; pushing ahead with socialist industrialization as a central task during the transitional period to socialism; building the socialist collective mastery regime, socialist large-scale production, new culture and new socialist residents; abolishing exploitation, and eradicating poverty and backwardness; upholding vigilance, consolidating national defense, and preserving political security and social order; successfully building a Vietnam of peace, independence, unity and socialism; and significantly contributing to the global struggle for peace, national independence, democracy and socialism.

The 5th Congress in 1982 Congress set out main socio-economic directions, tasks and objectives from 1981 to 1985 and for the 1980s, while affirming the continued implementation of the socialist revolutionary guidelines outlined by the fourth National Party Congress.

The 6th Congress in 1986 marked an important reform in Party leadership in politics, ideology and organization work.

Under the spirit of “looking straight at the truth, accurately assessing the truth and clarifying truth,” the Congress affirmed achievements recorded in the previous term and also pointed out that socio-economic development was bogged in severe difficulties: slow production growth; low production and investment efficiency; ineffective utilization of natural resources; tangled circulation, troublesome distribution; slow progress in dealing with major economic imbalances, with some even getting worse; slow consolidation of the socialist production relations; the life of people, especially workers and public servants, meeting various difficulties; and increasing social negative phenomena.

The 7th Congress in 1991 reviewed the implementation of the Resolution adopted by the sixth Party Congress and adopted a Platform on national construction during the period of transition to socialism; a socio-economic development strategy till 2020; and a Report on Party building and amendment of the Party Statutes.

The 8th Congress in 1996 assessed that the reforms carried out in 10 years harvested significant achievements and the tasks set by the seventh National Party Congress were basically fulfilled.

After looking into the world’s situation, opportunities and challenges, the Congress defined that the target of industrialization and modernization was building Viet Nam into an industrialized country with modern material-technological infrastructure, a reasonable economic structure, progressive production relations.

The 9th Congress in 2001 adopted a Political Report entitled “Promoting national power, continuing with reform, speeding up industrialization, modernization, building and safeguarding a socialist nation”.

The 10th Congress in 2006 assessed that the country’s reforms attained substantial and historic achievements.

The country weathered the socio-economic crisis and underwent fundamental and comprehensive changes. The economy grew relatively fast; the industrialization, modernization and development of a socialist-oriented market economy were promoted; and people’s living standards were improved considerably.

The 11th Congress in 2011 decided to supplement and develop the 1991 Platform, outlined a 10-year Socio-economic Development Strategy (2011-2020), set out the orientations, targets and tasks for five years (2011-2015), and adopted the supplemented and revised Party Charter along with many other important documents.

The 12th Congress was held in 2016 with the theme of “Strengthening the building of the Party into pure and strong; promoting the strength of the whole nation and socialist democracy; comprehensively and concertedly accelerating the cause of reform; firmly safeguarding the Motherland, maintaining a peaceful and stable environment; striving to turn Viet Nam into a basically industrialized and modernity-oriented country at an early date”.

It worked out the following major tasks: Strengthening the building and purification of the Party; focusing on the building of a contingent of officials, especially those at the strategic level who are capable, qualified and reputable, on a par with their duties; building and organizing the apparatus of a streamlined and effective political system; stepping up the fight against corruption, wastefulness and bureaucracy among others./.