On May 19, 2026, the entire Party, people, and army celebrated the 136th birthday of the great President Ho Chi Minh at a time of special significance. The 14th National Congress of the Party was a resounding success, defining strategic orientations to bring the country into a new era, building a peaceful, independent, democratic, prosperous, civilized, and happy Vietnam, firmly moving towards socialism; the election of National Assembly deputies of the 16th term and People's Councils at all levels for the 2026–2031 term opened a new chapter with very high requirements for thinking innovation, improving institutional quality, management effectiveness and capacity to serve the People. The political system is gradually operating according to a new organizational model, more streamlined, more transparent, requiring higher efficiency, effectiveness, and efficiency, closer ties with the People and better meeting the requirements of national development in the new situation.
In that major shift, we are even more deeply aware of the enduring value of Ho Chi Minh's thought - the spiritual foundation, the torch illuminating the way, the guiding principle for all victories of the Vietnamese revolution, of the Vietnamese nation. If the Document of the 14th Party Congress identifies the new development path of the country, then Ho Chi Minh's thought is the light illuminating the way for us to walk on that path with steadfast bravery, correct goals, scientific methods and deep belief in the People.
President Ho Chi Minh is not only the person who found the path to save the country and liberate the nation, but also the person who laid the ideological foundation for the cause of building, protecting and developing Vietnam in the new era. In Him, national independence is associated with the freedom and happiness of the People, with socialism. National liberation is the starting point of a great journey: building a peaceful, unified, independent Vietnam, where the People are masters, live warmly, freely, and happily, are educated, are comprehensively developed, and enjoy the fruits of the revolution.
That is the humanistic depth, the sustainable value and also the vitality of the era of Ho Chi Minh's thought. That thought not only illuminates the path to gaining independence and national reunification in the 20th century, but also continues to illuminate the cause of protecting sovereignty, territorial integrity, innovation, reform, rapid and sustainable development in the 21st century. In the new era, when the country faces the requirement to rise strongly, improve strategic autonomy capacity, catch up with the development trends of the era, Ho Chi Minh's thought becomes an increasingly important spiritual support, foundation of thinking and direction of action.
The 14th Party Congress is a very important milestone in the country's development process. The Congress not only summarizes the development journey, looks back at the great and historically significant achievements after 40 years of renovation, but also establishes the methodology, vision and strategic decisions for the development stage in the future. That is the path of rapid and sustainable development; building a clean and strong Party and political system, operating effectively, efficiently, and efficiently; building a socialist rule-of-law state of the People, by the People, for the People; developing the country based on science, technology, innovation, and digital transformation; developing Vietnamese culture and people to become a foundation, internal resource and important driving force; building an independent, self-reliant economy, proactively integrating deeply into international affairs; consolidating strong national defense and security.
Looking deeper, those strategic orientations are the inheritance, application and creative development of Ho Chi Minh's thought in new historical conditions. Ho Chi Minh's thought is not immutable, closed propositions, but a system of vivid viewpoints, always associated with practice, taking practice as the starting point, taking the interests of the nation and the happiness of the People as the highest goal, taking autonomy, democracy, innovation, creativity and action as methods to realize revolutionary ideals.
First of all, President Ho Chi Minh's ideology "the people are the root" continues to be the xuyên suốt axis of all policies, guidelines, and policies in the current period. In his ideology, the People are the subject of history, the source of infinite strength of the revolution, the highest service goal of the Party and State. All benefits are for the people. All powers belong to the people. The government from the Central to the grassroots levels is all public servants of the people. Cadres and party members must be close to the people, understand the people, trust the people, respect the people, learn from the people, be for the people and be responsible to the People.
That spirit sets out a very clear requirement for the current renovation process: all reforms must take the People as the center, take serving the People better as the goal and take the satisfaction, trust, and happiness of the People as a measure for evaluation. Squeezing the apparatus is not only to reduce focal points, reduce levels, reduce costs, but more deeply to make the apparatus closer to the people, closer to the grassroots, handle work faster, serve the people and businesses better. Decentralization and delegation of power to clarify people, work, and responsibilities, promote proactiveness, creativity, and self-responsibility of each level, each sector, and each locality. Digital transformation aims to modernize management means, create a more transparent, convenient, fair, thoughtful and faster governance.
Second, President Ho Chi Minh's ideology of independence, self-reliance, self-strengthening continues to illuminate the path of national development in the context of strategic competition, supply chain shifts, the fourth industrial revolution and the profound changes of the world. During his lifetime, he always emphasized that national independence must be associated with self-reliance and self-strengthening; must rely mainly on one's own strength, and at the same time seek international support and cooperation; must combine national strength with the strength of the times.
Today, that ideology is developed in the requirement of building an independent and self-reliant economy with high resilience, international competitiveness, proactively integrating deeply but not dependent; strongly developing science, technology, innovation, digital transformation; mastering strategic technology fields; forming new production forces and new production methods. The aspiration to "stand shoulder to shoulder with the five continental powers" that President Ho Chi Minh sent to today's generations of Vietnam has become a practical development requirement, requiring the entire Party, entire people, and entire army to strongly innovate thinking, act decisively, overcome the mentality of self-complacency, overcome the risk of lagging behind, especially lagging behind in technology, productivity and quality of development.
Third, Ho Chi Minh's thought on Party building continues to be a particularly important foundation for the cause of building and rectifying the Party and the political system in the new period. President Ho Chi Minh instructed that our Party is the ruling Party; each cadre and party member must truly imbue revolutionary ethics, diligence, thrift, integrity, righteousness, and impartiality; must keep the Party truly clean; must be worthy of being a leader, a truly loyal servant of the People. He considers ethics as the root of a revolutionary, considers the close bond with the People as a source of strength and a condition for the Party to exist and develop.
In the current conditions, that requirement is even more vital. A country that wants to develop quickly and sustainably must have a truly clean and strong Party, with enough bravery, intelligence, ethics, prestige and leadership capacity. A streamlined political system that wants to operate effectively must have a contingent of cadres with sufficient qualities, capacity, responsibility, daring to think, daring to do, daring to take responsibility for the common good. A modern governance system that wants to succeed must be based on discipline, order, integrity, transparency and accountability.
Therefore, preventing and combating corruption, wastefulness, negativity, and bureaucracy is not only a task of building the Party, but also a development task. Fighting corruption is to purify the apparatus, consolidate the people's trust, protect national resources, and create a healthy environment for development. Fighting wastefulness is to unlock resources, effectively use public assets, public time, and the country's development opportunities. Fighting negativity is to maintain discipline, prevent power degeneration, and create a fair and civilized foundation for sustainable national development; Fighting bureaucracy is to keep the apparatus away from the people, policies not far from reality, and officials not indifferent to the people's lives.
Fourth, Ho Chi Minh's thought on great national unity continues to be a source of strategic strength in the new era. He affirmed that unity is an extremely precious tradition of our nation, a decisive factor in the victory of the revolution. Unity within the Party, national unity, national unity, international unity; unity between classes, classes, ethnicities, religions, compatriots in the country and overseas Vietnamese - that is the method of gathering forces and also the art of building national strength of the great President Ho Chi Minh.
In the current period, great unity is not only a political requirement, but also a source of development. The country wants to rise up, it must arouse and maximize the intelligence, bravery, aspirations, creativity and dedication of all Vietnamese people. Workers, farmers, intellectuals, entrepreneurs, artists, youth, women, veterans, ethnic minorities, religions, and overseas Vietnamese are all important forces in the cause of building and protecting the Fatherland. Developing the country in the new era cannot only rely on state resources, but must mobilize, liberate and connect all social resources, all creative potentials of the People.
Fifth, Ho Chi Minh's ideology on culture and people continues to illuminate the requirements of sustainable development of the country. For him, culture must not stand outside politics, economy, and society, but must illuminate the path for the nation to go. People are both goals and the driving force of the revolution. Developing the country is not only economic growth, but also improving people's knowledge, fostering personality, building morality, developing culture, and caring for the material and spiritual life of the people.
In the new era, rapid development must go hand in hand with sustainable development; economic growth must go hand in hand with social progress and equity; technological innovation must go hand in hand with human development; international integration must go hand in hand with preserving national cultural identity. A country is truly powerful only when it has a strong economy, modern institutions, solid national defense and security, rich cultural identity, comprehensively developed people and a humane, compassionate, disciplined, and creative society.
From this, it can be seen that the innovation policies in recent times, from streamlining the organizational structure of the political system, arranging administrative units, operating the 2-level local government model; institutional innovation, perfecting the law; promoting decentralization and delegation of power, administrative reform, digital transformation; developing science, technology, innovation; developing the private economy, improving the efficiency of the state economy, building an independent and self-reliant economy; developing culture, people, improving the quality of education, taking care of people's health, ensuring social security; to proactively integrating internationally, consolidating national defense and security, preventing and combating corruption, wastefulness, and negativity, all need to be scrutinized with Ho Chi Minh's ideology. scrutinized to maintain the right goals. scrutinized to choose the right methods. scrutinized so that all innovations are not alienated from the People, all developments do not lose their identity, and all reforms are not separated from the ideals of national independence and socialism.
Therefore, the 136th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh's birth in the current context is not only an occasion to commemorate and express gratitude for his immense contributions. This is also an opportunity for the entire Party, people, and army to reflect on themselves before his ideology, morality, and style; consolidate faith in the chosen path; enhance responsibility to the Fatherland and the People; turn Ho Chi Minh's thought into specific revolutionary actions in each agency, each locality, each cadre, party member and each citizen.
Studying and following Ho Chi Minh's ideology, ethics, and style today cannot stop at right words, good slogans, and formal movements. More importantly, it is necessary to transform them into public service ethics, enforcement discipline, culture of integrity, spirit of innovation and creativity, responsibility to serve the people, organizational capacity to implement and specific results in life. Each correct policy must go into life. Each policy must reach the people. Each cadre must take the satisfaction, trust and happiness of the people as a measure of their work.
The era of national rise sets very high requirements for the entire political system. We must be steadfast but not conservative; innovate but not deviate; develop quickly but must be sustainable; integrate deeply but must maintain independence and self-reliance; build a streamlined apparatus but must ensure better service to the People; develop a strong economy but must ensure progress, social justice and the happiness of the People. That is also the spirit of Ho Chi Minh in the new conditions: steadfast in goals, creative methods and practices in action, humane in purpose, taking the people as the root and taking national and ethnic interests as the supreme.
The larger the historical shift, the more we must maintain Ho Chi Minh's ideology. The further we move on the path of modernization, the deeper we must return to the foundational values that he left behind: independence, freedom; the people are the root; solidarity; self-reliance, self-strengthening; diligence, thrift, integrity, and righteousness; the Party is clean; the State serves the people; development for people and for the happiness of the people.
Under the light of Ho Chi Minh, with Vietnamese bravery, intelligence, will and aspirations, the entire Party, people, and army will surely successfully implement the Resolution of the 14th National Party Congress, successfully implement the two 100-year strategic goals, and realize the aspiration to develop a powerful country, on par with the five continental powers as beloved Uncle Ho always wished.
