Vietnam Party chief delivers Lunar New Year greetings after three-week public absence

Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong met Wednesday morning with incumbent and former Party and state leaders and conveyed Tet or Lunar New Year greetings after a three-week absence from the public eye.

The Party chief was last seen in public at the opening of an extraordinary session of the parliament on January 15, also after a public absence of several weeks amid rumors about his health.

In delivering the Tet message at the Party Central Committee headquarters in Hanoi and commemorating the 94th Party anniversary, Trong lauded the country’s achievements in 2023 despite mounting global and domestic challenges.

Among the achievements, Vietnam managed to keep macroeconomic fundamentals stable and effectively controlled inflation, with economic growth accelerating quarter after quarter, he said.

Vietnam’s economy expanded 5.05% last year, among the highest growth rates in Southeast Asia.

In 2024, the whole political system should work to attain the best socioeconomic outcomes possible while strengthening Party building activities including continuation of the anti-corruption drive, Trong said.

He called for active preparations for Party congresses at all levels in the lead up to the 14th National Congress scheduled to take place early 2026, including personnel planning for the Party Central Committee, Politburo and Secretariat.

Earlier on Wednesday morning, Trong offered incense in tribute to late President Ho Chi Minh at House 67 inside the Presidential Palace complex in Hanoi. The facility is the place where President Ho Chi Minh lived during the final years of his life and breathed his last.