Vietnam’s To Lam vows to fight corruption, pledges 10% economic growth

As he addressed a gathering of Vietnam’s ruling Communist Party, To Lam made the promise to combat corruption and increase annual economic growth to more than 10% for the remainder of the decade.

The secretary-general urged the party to pursue administrative reform and address “wastefulness and negativity” in government in a speech to a twice-a-decade party congress on Tuesday.

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Lam, 68, said Vietnam needed to ease bureaucracy and boost international trade to safeguard its sovereignty and interests.

The weeklong congress will establish economic objectives for 2030, begin on Monday in the capital city of Hanoi, select a party leader, and select the country’s most powerful position.

According to reports, Lam is likely to keep his post of party chief and seek the presidency of the state, creating a dual position similar to Xi Jinping’s in China.

Nguyen Khac Giang of Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute told the AFP news agency that if he took both of his top positions, he will have “the strongest mandate for the Vietnamese leadership since the end of the Vietnam War.”

With the pace of his reforms, which have also resulted in the removal of rivals and centralizing his authority, Lam has already shocked the nation. Since taking office 17 months ago, he has propelled ambitious rail and power projects, absolving eight ministries or agencies, and cutting nearly 150, 000 jobs from the state payroll.

Lam stated in a speech to almost 1,600 party delegates on Tuesday that the gathering was occurring amid “many overlapping difficulties and challenges, from natural disasters to storms and floods to epidemics, security risks, fierce strategic competition, and significant disruptions in energy and food supply chains.”

The party is “determined to combat corruption,” he added, “considering that the private sector is a crucial component of the economy.”

He continued, “Infrastructure must be developed to adapt to climate change and ensure robust regional, interregional, and global connectivity.”

The Communist Party submitted to the congress setting the annual economic growth goal of at least 10% until 2030, according to a document that the Reuters news agency reviewed.

According to the state-run Viet Nam News, party documents presented at the congress demanded strict enforcement of legal discipline in order to “overcome chronic problems where the “law is sound but implementation is difficult” and where there is “much talk, little action,” which had eroded public trust and wasted national resources.