We have just gone through the difficult year of 2024, but it is also the year we have reaped many encouraging results when the indicators announced in the New Year's article of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh affirmed the positive growth trend, along with messages about "Innovation, creativity, acceleration, breakthrough, bringing the country firmly into the era of rising up, developing wealth, civilization, and prosperity of the nation".
In 2024, despite suffering heavy damage from natural disasters, storms, floods and many other difficulties, Vietnam still achieved a GDP growth rate of 7%. Import-export turnover reached a new record of nearly 800 billion USD, a trade surplus for the 9th consecutive year of about 23 billion USD; agriculture continued to be the mainstay of the economy and contributed significantly to export achievements. Industrial production increased the most since 2020 at 8.4% over the same period last year. FDI capital attracted more than 31 billion USD, although not much increase, compared to 2023, the capital flow was of higher quality with the participation of technology giants in the world. Tens of thousands of people lined both sides of the river, Bach Dang Wharf Park and Nguyen Hue walking street to watch fireworks and welcome the new year 2025 (Photo: Nam Anh). The year 2024 will mark many new milestones in the transport infrastructure sector, with 8 expressway projects completed, extending the North-South expressway to more than 2,000km, laying the foundation for this year to complete the target of 3,000km of expressway nationwide. Many major projects in the oil and gas and energy sectors have been completed. In particular, the 500kV line 3 Quang Trach - Pho Noi project, which was energized after more than 6 months of construction, is the result of the belief, determination and solidarity of the Vietnamese people, and a lesson for the implementation of many major national projects. Along with that, the imprints in the fight against corruption, the determination to build a clean, honest, people- and business-oriented public authority, and create a healthy competitive market... of Vietnam have received many positive reviews from international organizations. Efforts to reform institutions and the revolution to streamline the apparatus launched by General Secretary To Lam are creating a strong driving force to build a "Refined - Lean - Strong - Effective - Effective - Efficient" political system. Development lessons in 2024 strengthen the belief in the country's new development step, double-digit growth in the era of national development, towards the goal of 2045, Vietnam's economic scale will increase 4 times compared to the present. From a poor country, exhausted by war, the 40-year renovation has brought Vietnam over the threshold of low middle income, per capita income has increased 40 times. Now is the time to raise the level of development, towards 2 important milestones: becoming an upper middle-income country by 2030, and a high-income country by 2045. The renovation has helped us accumulate resources, infrastructure, and experience for the country's new development stage. In particular, the experience of achieving high economic growth targets while maintaining macroeconomic stability and curbing inflation. A double-digit growth rate in the coming years is a very high requirement, requiring great efforts from the entire political system, people and businesses, including the pioneering role of important sectors and fields such as energy industry, processing, manufacturing, export... And the important thing is that we must create new growth drivers such as high technology, innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, green growth... Public investment will continue to play a leading role in private investment through major projects on socio-economic infrastructure; effectively exploit the assets of millions of billions of VND that state-owned enterprises are holding; resolutely remove obstacles and restructure to restart projects that have been shelved for many years, especially real estate projects. In 2025 and the following years, FDI will still be the capital flow that is prioritized to attract more in the spirit of equal cooperation, proactive selection, aiming at developing high-tech industry, source technology, semiconductor industry, AI... creating a breakthrough to become a locomotive to push the economy to grow faster. The event of Chairman Jensen Huang of Nvidia, USA - the world's largest semiconductor chip design and manufacturing corporation with a market value of nearly 1,200 billion USD, signing a cooperation agreement with the Vietnamese Government to establish an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research and Development Center and an AI Data Center in our country, demonstrates the determination and strong commitment to consider Vietnam as "Nvidia's second home", as well as confidence in our country's development potential. This will also create a spillover effect, attracting investors in the semiconductor, high-tech sector in particular and foreign investment in general to Vietnam. Exports must continue to be promoted further, the target of 1,000 billion USD in turnover is likely to be achieved in the next few years. We also need to pay attention to "relaxing the people" to stimulate consumption, through amending the current outdated personal income tax policy, because consumption makes an important contribution to the country's GDP growth. Although there are up to 9 localities that have achieved GDP growth of over 10% in 2024, we cannot forget the leading role of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Therefore, it is necessary to further promote decentralization on the basis of the current legal corridor so that these two localities can play a good role in leading the growth of the country's economy. Aspiration and consensus will create the courage for Vietnam to confidently enter a new era - an era of development, wealth and prosperity.
Author: Mr. Nguyen Van Thieng is a journalist with over 30 years of experience, currently working at Voice of Vietnam.
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