Awaken your courage and overcome the headwind!

Giving an assessment of Vietnam's economy over the past year, Dr. Tran Thi Hong Minh - Director of CIEM, said that although the COVID-19 pandemic has been controlled, the consequences of the pandemic are still very severe and are negatively affecting the world economy, including Vietnam. Geopolitical tensions, increased technical barriers from important markets of Vietnam related to green products and green production, have posed enormous difficulties and challenges for Vietnam's economy in 2023 as well as in the following years.

Commenting further, Ms. Ramla Khalidi - Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, said that 2023 is a difficult year for the economies of countries. Therefore, central banks have increased interest rates to control inflation. This has led to negative consequences for the growth of market demand as well as world economic growth.

Faced with that context, the Government has made efforts to reduce difficulties and control inflation. Thanks to that, Vietnam's economic growth in 2023 is forecast to be higher in the following quarter than the previous quarter. Accordingly, a number of macroeconomic indicators have met the capital needs for development, especially the public investment target. In total, 461,000 billion VND has been disbursed in 11 months, 6.7% higher and 122,600 billion VND higher in absolute terms compared to the same period in 2022.

In 11 months, registered FDI capital was estimated at 28.8 billion USD. Of which, realized capital reached 20.2 billion USD, the highest realized capital level in the past 5 years. At the same time, Vietnam also controlled inflation well, within the plan of implementing Resolution 01 of the Government with 4.5%.

According to experts, Vietnam's economy has "basically" overcome the "headwinds". In particular, mentioning the recent move to increase rice exports, Dr. Nguyen Minh Khuong - lecturer at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Singapore emphasized: " Vietnam is very brave, the world is praising it. We are not only doing it for ourselves but for the whole world".

With challenges from geopolitical conflicts and increased strategic competition among major countries, the risk of inflation in Vietnam's key markets is still latent, the domestic market is still weak, private sector investment has not recovered...; however, the bright spots of the economy in 2023, the current growth drivers will create momentum for growth in 2024 and the following years.

The year 2023 has passed and many people have compared it to a "bumper year" for Vietnamese diplomacy with frequent visits, working sessions, and talks by many heads of state and international delegations. The story of a dynamic and innovative Vietnam is always present in high-level forums such as the G7 Summit in Japan, the 42nd ASEAN Summit in Indonesia; or in bilateral and multilateral visits by our country's senior leaders to partner and friendly countries.

“ A dynamically developing, innovative, internationally integrated Vietnam, working with the world to solve global issues” , is the prominent message from these important foreign affairs activities. All have demonstrated a new position of Vietnam in the context of many fluctuations in the world's geopolitics.

Nearly 50 years of rising from the war with countless difficulties, Vietnam has a voice in the international arena and the great powers have changed their attitudes towards Vietnam. That is, Vietnam has known how to create a position. The position here is the correct political line, both domestic and foreign, that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong has summarized with the image of "bamboo diplomacy": hard, resolute, persistent, but the implementation method is flexible.

This foreign policy is based on two important foundations. First, taking national and ethnic interests as the ultimate goal and foundation. This is also the inheritance of Ho Chi Minh's ideology. Second, Vietnam's foreign policy and diplomacy are based on justice. Because in the world there are many viewpoints, many tendencies, many different political theories, but all the peoples in the world look at a country's diplomacy to see whether that country is just or not so that they can support it.

The flexibility in thinking and diplomatic policy of Vietnam in recent times has also shown its effectiveness. Taking the concept of independence as an example, which we have always emphasized, the connotation of the word independence has now changed due to the times and approaches.

In the past, independence was the type of “no one can touch me” and “I play alone”. In the current era of globalization, independence cannot be like that, the approach is to balance dependent relationships. These are relationships of mutual interests, bilateral and multilateral intertwined. This is the art of diplomacy to raise one’s position. Vietnam is doing this well, and that is why Vietnam needs other countries, but other countries also need Vietnam.

In a world of many changes like today, the high-level foreign affairs activities of our Party and State leaders have continued to strongly promote the foreign policy of independence, self-reliance, peace, friendship, cooperation and development, multilateralization, diversification, proactive and active international integration, for the national interest as set forth by the 13th National Party Congress.

With more than 500 bilateral and multilateral agreements; with the ratification and effective implementation of the Vietnam-European Union Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA); participation in the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) and the recognition of Vietnam as a market economy by more than 70 countries... Vietnam has also become an important link in many economic links through the signing of free trade agreements, thereby creating great driving forces for development. And this is also the reason why Vietnam has become a "meeting place" to welcome many heads of state, national leaders and leaders of international organizations.

Normally, when talking about the strength of a country, people immediately think of its economic potential, national defense, and security. Vietnam is different, our position is multiplied by “soft power”. That is the system of cultural values, the system of political and social values, the state model, and domestic and foreign policies. Besides that, there is the heroic historical tradition, the righteousness, the aspiration for independence and unity of our nation, associated with the trends and aspirations of all nations for peace, freedom, equality, and charity.

When surfing social networks, I see more and more photos and clips of a country with beautiful landscapes and harmonious people, a small country but full of bravery. And it is not difficult to find proud shares about the homeland of the Gen Z and Gen Y generations.

Every citizen can clearly feel each step of the country's progress. Vietnam's position does not come naturally. It was built and built through many historical changes. It is like the initial small waves, stirring, spreading and creating momentum for big waves, rising tides. Vietnam's position has been budding since the time "Mother led her Fairy children to the forest, Father led her Dragon children to the sea". Year after year, centuries have passed, the shape and stature of the nation has grown, knowing how to conquer nature, knowing how to defeat enemies to preserve the race, keeping every inch of land, every fathom of sea that our ancestors left behind.

Vietnam's position has grown steadily over nearly 40 years of renovation. The 13th National Party Congress officially recorded in the document: " With all modesty, we can still say that: Our country has never had such a foundation, potential, position and international prestige as today ."

International status and prestige are not only a source of pride but have truly become one of the country's sources of comprehensive strength, one of the solid guarantees for national security, one of the extremely important resources for us to firmly step on the road to the future, with the goal of becoming a developed, high-income country by 2045, the 100th anniversary of the country's founding.

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/danh-thuc-ban-linh-vuot-con-gio-nguoc-post278972.html