These results and achievements were attained thanks to the wise and timely leadership and guidance of the Central Party Committee, directly and regularly by the Politburo and the Secretariat, headed by General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong; the involvement, supervision, and support of the National Assembly; the decisive direction and management of the Government and the Prime Minister; the involvement, unity, close coordination, and responsibility of the entire political system, all levels, sectors, and localities; the support and active participation of the people and the business community; and the attention and assistance of international friends.

NewspaperGovernment ElectronicsSelect and introduce 10 achievements.imprintOutstanding figures of the country in 2023.

The socio-economic situation continued its recovery trend, with each month showing more positive results than the previous one, and each quarter showing more than the previous one. The overall targets were basically achieved, and many important results were made in various fields; it continued to be a bright spot in the global economy; and 10 out of 15 targets were met or exceeded.

In 2023, Vietnam was recognized by many international organizations as a country that achieved many outstanding accomplishments in socio-economic development. The macroeconomic situation was fundamentally stable; inflation was lower than the target set by the National Assembly; public debt, government debt, foreign debt, and budget deficit were controlled; growth was promoted; and major economic balances were ensured.

GDP growth for the whole year was around 5%, a tremendous effort given the challenging global situation, helping our economy remain among the high-growth countries in the region and the world. The agricultural sector was a bright spot and continued to be a solid pillar of the economy during difficult times; the service sector developed quite dynamically, and the industrial and construction sectors gradually recovered.

Many reputable international organizations highly appreciate the results and prospects of our country's economy and predict that Vietnam will recover quickly in the near future. Fitch Ratings hasupgrade credit ratingVietnam's long-term country rating has risen to BB+ (from BB), with a positive outlook."Stable"Vietnam's national brand value reached US$431 billion, moving up one rank to 32nd out of 100 strongest national brands in the world.

Foreign affairs and international integration were implemented dynamically, systematically, continuously, and successfully, becoming a highlight of 2023, with the harmonious, close, and effective combination of Party diplomacy, State diplomacy, and people-to-people diplomacy.

Many historically significant diplomatic achievements have created new opportunities and favorable conditions for national development; most notably, the successful preparation and organization of the state visits to Vietnam by General Secretary and President of China Xi Jinping and President of the United States Joe Biden.

A series of overseas visits and working trips by Party and State leaders have further deepened good relations with many important partners. Vietnam's image, stature, prestige, and position have been elevated to a new level.

To date, Vietnam has established comprehensive strategic partnerships or strategic partnerships with all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and many G20 countries; contributing to enhancing Vietnam's position and prestige in the international arena; and maintaining a peaceful and stable environment for national construction and defense.

The implementation of strategic breakthroughs in infrastructure development, especially transportation infrastructure, has led to remarkable progress, particularly in the development of expressways.

2023 saw the highest number of completed and newly commenced expressway projects in over a decade. Since the beginning of the term, 729km of expressways have been completed and put into operation, bringing the total length of expressways in operation to 1,892km. Approximately 1,700km of expressways are currently under construction, striving to complete and exceed the national target of having around 3,000km of expressways by 2025 and 5,000km by 2030.

Regarding aviation, the T2 passenger terminal at Phu Bai and Dien Bien airports has been completed and put into operation; decisive action has been taken to resolve obstacles and commence construction of the T3 passenger terminal at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.Long Thanh International Airport...ensuring quality and meeting deadlines.

The work of building and perfecting institutions, laws, mechanisms, and policies has been given priority, commensurate with its strategic breakthrough status, with many innovations in direction and approach. The Government has received close cooperation, support, and coordination from the National Assembly and the Standing Committee of the National Assembly.

In 2023, the National Assembly passed 16 laws, 29 resolutions, and provided feedback on 18 draft laws. The Government held 10 thematic sessions on lawmaking, providing feedback on 47 issues, focusing on finalizing and submitting the revised Land Law to the National Assembly.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh presides over the thematic session on lawmaking in December 2023 - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

The government issued 86 decrees, and the Prime Minister issued 29 regulatory decisions. The overall program for state administrative reform was implemented decisively and effectively, focusing on reducing, simplifying, and decentralizing administrative procedures. Decentralization and delegation of power were promoted; organizational structures were reviewed and streamlined; and the situation of officials shirking responsibility and fearing mistakes in the performance of their duties was rectified. A government decree was issued to encourage and protect dynamic, creative officials who dare to think, dare to act, and dare to take responsibility for the common good.

Planning work has been accelerated, with 108 out of 111 plans completed, reviewed, and approved, and their quality improved; the National Master Plan and many sectoral, field, and provincial plans have been issued.

Despite challenging market conditions, total import and export turnover is still estimated at 683 billion USD, with a trade surplus of approximately 26 billion USD, of which...agricultural exportsEspecially for fruits, vegetables, and rice, these items reached new peaks with many record-breaking figures.

Specifically, the agricultural sector achieved $24.3 billion in exports, a 17% increase compared to last year. Six product categories exceeded $3 billion in export value, including coffee, rice, fruits and vegetables, cashew nuts, seafood, and wood and wood products.

Exports of fruits and vegetables reached $5.6 billion, a record high and far exceeding the initial expectation of "$4 billion for the whole year". In the first 11 months, Vietnam's rice exports also set a record with over 7.7 million tons of rice valued at over $4.4 billion, an increase of more than 36% compared to last year. Vietnamese rice has surpassed its competitors to win the number one spot in the competition.The best rice in the world..

With the signing of the bilateral free trade agreement (VIFTA) with Israel, Vietnam has now signed and participated in 16 FTAs, and is continuing negotiations for three more: Vietnam - EFTA (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), ASEAN - Canada, and Vietnam - UAE.

As of December 20, 2023, total registered foreign direct investment (FDI) in Vietnam reached nearly US$36.61 billion, a 32.1% increase year-on-year, the third highest figure since 2008. Disbursed capital for foreign investment projects is estimated at approximately US$23.18 billion, a 3.5% increase compared to 2022, representing a record high in the context of shrinking global trade and investment. Vietnam's business environment ranking also improved by 12 places globally.

Business registration activity in 2023 was impressive, with a record of nearly 160,000 newly established businesses, a 7.2% increase compared to 2022, 1.2 times the average for the 2017-2022 period, and a 4.6% increase compared to the estimated figure for the whole year of 2023.

The number of businesses resuming operations in 2023 also reached over 58,400. Thus, the number of businesses entering and returning to the market continued to be over 200,000, an increase of 4.5% compared to the same period in 2022 and 1.3 times the number of businesses withdrawing from the market during the year.

The year 2023 marked new milestones in restructuring the economy, developing emerging industries and sectors, promoting science and technology, innovation, digital transformation, green transformation, and the development of the digital economy, green economy, circular economy, knowledge economy, and sharing economy.

The national digital transformation is being actively promoted, with the digital economy's share of GDP estimated to reach approximately 15% in 2023. The project on developing and applying population data, electronic identification and authentication (Project 06) has been decisively implemented with high determination and has achieved many impressive results, contributing to reducing negative impacts and saving time and effort for citizens and businesses, making it a "bright spot" in digital transformation in our country.

The science and technology market has made significant progress. The national innovation and startup ecosystem has developed strongly; inaugurations have been held.National Innovation Center(NIC); focusing on building and perfecting 3 national innovation and startup support centers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang. Vietnam's Global Innovation Index ranks 46th out of 132, an increase of 2 places compared to 2022.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and delegates cut the ribbon to inaugurate the National Innovation Center - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

NIC's Hoa Lac campus, designed in the shape of a soaring eagle, symbolizes its mission to realize creative ideas and promote innovative business development for greater reach - Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac

2023 also marked a leap forward for Vietnam in the semiconductor sector with a series of agreements and cooperation projects with leading partners, giant corporations, and businesses around the world.

Vietnam is aggressively implementing action programs to respond toclimate changeReducing emissions, transitioning to energy in accordance with the political declaration on a just energy transition (JETP), selling carbon credits for the first time and issuing green bonds, demonstrating responsibility to the international community to achieve net emissions of "zero" by 2050.

The government continues to direct ministries, sectors, and localities to focus on reviewing, identifying, and promptly addressing shortcomings, difficulties, and obstacles, both in terms of legal regulations, mechanisms, policies, and implementation, unlocking resources, supporting businesses to overcome difficulties, promoting growth, creating jobs and livelihoods for people, and ensuring the well-being of workers.

Wishdisbursement of public investmentThe total for the year was approximately 667,882 trillion VND, reaching 94.3% of the plan assigned by the Prime Minister, about 2.88% higher than the same period in 2022 (91.42%), and approximately 137.6 trillion VND higher in absolute terms. Public investment was restructured towards a more focused and targeted approach, concentrating on projects with high spillover effects and creating momentum for development.

The government is resolutely addressing and resolving difficulties, limitations, and shortcomings, developing various markets in a synchronized, safe, healthy, sustainable, and integrated manner; the corporate bond market and real estate market are showing more positive signs of stabilization and development. The government continues to address bad debts and restructure credit institutions, especially the five weakest banks.

Focus on restructuring, upgrading, and improving the operational efficiency of state-owned corporations and enterprises; continue to effectively address the initial stages of 8 out of 12 loss-making projects and enterprises that have been operating for many years; complete and put into operation many large and important power projects after a long period of interruption.

Cultural and social sectors continue to receive attention and investment for development, achieving more tangible results. All planned social targets have been met and exceeded, clearly demonstrating the positive nature of our system, which does not sacrifice progress and social justice for the sake of mere economic growth.

In the face of economic difficulties, the National Assembly and the Government continue to implement policies to exempt, reduce, and extend various taxes, fees, charges, and land rents. The total value of these policies is approximately 200,000 billion VND, and as of November, over 172,000 billion VND has been exempted, reduced, or extended (of which about 65,000 billion VND is exempted or reduced). Increased revenue, reduced expenditure, and the establishment of a salary fund (currently around 560,000 billion VND) ensure sufficient resources for salary reform in the three years from 2024 to 2026.

Efforts to ensure social security and care for the lives of workers, especially vulnerable groups and policy beneficiaries, continue to be strengthened. People's living standards continue to improve, with average worker income increasing by 6.8%; over 94% of households reported stable or higher incomes compared to the same period in 2022. According to the United Nations' World Happiness Report in March 2023, Vietnam's Happiness Index rose 12 places, from 77th to 65th in the global ranking.

The organization of the commemoration80 years since the promulgation of the Outline on Vietnamese Culture.The first National Conference on the Development of Vietnam's Cultural Industries, and the subsequent National Conference on the Development of Vietnam's Cultural Industries, are important events to further concretize and implement the Party's guidelines and policies, and the State's laws on cultural development, especially the directives of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong at the 2021 National Cultural Conference.

The fight against corruption and negative practices continues to be intensified, affirming that this is an inevitable and irreversible trend, contributing to consolidating and strengthening the people's trust in the Party and the State.

There have been many new advances in the investigation, discovery, and prosecution of major cases; new cases of corruption and misconduct, particularly serious and complex, that have attracted significant public attention, have been initiated and investigated. These cases occur in highly specialized fields, operate in a closed system, and involve intertwining the state and non-state sectors, and have previously remained unresolved, such as: Continuing the expanded investigation in phase 2 of the case related to...Viet A CompanyThe cases include those at the Consular Department (Ministry of Foreign Affairs); cases at FLC Group; Tan Hoang Minh Group; cases at SCB Bank, Van Thinh Phat Group, An Dong Company, etc.; and the prosecution of many high-ranking officials, both current and retired, in the spirit of "No forbidden zones, no exceptions, regardless of who they are."

Source: Government Electronic Information Portal