Tô Lâm receives new mandate, promises 10 per cent growth
The 180-member Central Committee has unanimously re-elected Tô Lâm as party general secretary until 2031. The alliance with the military has been strengthened to support economic and administrative reforms. Both current Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and President Lương Cường were left out of the Politburo. Making Tô Lâm head of state, like Xi Jinping in China, is in the works.
Hanoi (AsiaNews/Agencies) – As expected, Tô Lâm was unanimously re-elected general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam at the conclusion of the party congress held in Hanoi, which ended today, two days earlier than originally announced.
For the next five years, he will occupy the country's most powerful political office. His re-election, backed by all 180 members of the new Central Committee, consolidates his leadership in the one-party state and sends a signal of continuity and stability both domestically and to the international community.
Speaking after the vote, Tô Lâm, 69, promised to significantly accelerate Vietnam's economic expansion, setting a target of double-digit annual growth for the next decade.
He also reiterated his commitment to building a system of governance based on integrity, competence, talent, and accountability, in which public officials’ performance is evaluated based on actual results.
The congress also approved a resolution endorsing the goal of 10 per cent annual economic growth and appointed the 19 members of the new politburo, the party's key decision-making body.
Lâm led the list of new members, followed by prominent figures such as Parliament Speaker Trần Thanh Mẫn, and former Central Bank Governor Lê Minh Hưng, deemed a potential future prime minister.
Further down the list was Defence Minister Phan Văn Giang, widely considered the second most powerful person in the country, while incumbent Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính and President Lương Cường were not included, a sign of further internal reshuffling in the party.
During his previous term as leader, which began in mid-2024 following the illness and death of Nguyễn Phú Trọng, Tô Lâm oversaw a phase of rapid economic growth supported by far-reaching reforms aimed at cutting red tape and speeding up decision-making.
Lâm's reforms, however, also drew strong criticism, as they led to the firing of tens of thousands of government officials, generating social dissatisfaction and internal resistance.
Aware of the tensions, Lâm moved to strengthen support among the party's different factions, particularly by securing the support of the military, a central player in Vietnam's political and economic system.
His intention to take on the post of President of Vietnam, in addition to that of party general secretary, remains on the table. If done, it would unite the two most powerful state roles in one person, like Xi Jinping in China.
This, however, faces resistance in a system traditionally based on collective leadership and internal equilibrium.
To achieve the goal of 10 per cent annual growth, Lâm aims to transform Vietnam's economic model, historically based on cheap labour and exports.
The ambition is to make the country an upper-middle-income economy by 2030, focusing on innovation, greater efficiency, and productivity.
The latest data from the ASEAN+3 Regional Economic Outlook (AREO), released recently, forecasts a 7.6 per cent growth rate for the Vietnamese economy in 2026, higher than all other Southeast Asian countries, plus China, Japan, and South Korea.
This reflects Vietnam’s increasingly important role in supply chains, further fuelled by its shrewd bamboo policy, which manages to balance its own interests between Beijing and Washington.
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18/09/2004
