Hanoi (AFP)

Our economy has "one of the strongest growth in the world" despite the pandemic, welcomed Tuesday the secretary general of the Vietnamese Communist Party (PCV) during the first day of debates at the five-year congress of the regime.

Gathered until February 2 under the great portraits of Ho Chi Minh, Marx and Lenin, 1,600 delegates will choose the secretary general of the PCV, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly, the four pillars of the country.

This 13th congress will also make it possible to define the main orientations for the next five years, in particular in terms of economic policy.

Vietnam recorded growth of 2.9% in 2020, the lowest in two decades, but this performance remains very solid in the face of a global economy in full recession with the coronavirus crisis.

We achieved "our double objective: to contain the pandemic (...) and to develop the economy", noted at the opening of the debates Nguyen Phu Trong, secretary general of the PCV and President of the Republic.

The 76-year-old conservative, who cleaned up the party ranks by leading a vast anti-corruption campaign, is expected to serve a third term as secretary general.

He could give up the post of President of the Republic in favor of the current Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The Vietnamese economy benefited from the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

The country, one of the last five communist bastions in the world where the repression against the opposition continues to increase, is becoming an increasingly essential technological pole.

He now expects average annual growth in gross domestic product of 7% over the next five years.

Hanoi has moved closer to Washington but recent tensions have arisen between the two countries, with the United States accusing Vietnam of having deliberately devalued its currency against the dollar to gain an undue trade advantage.

On the Chinese side, there are many disagreements concerning the South China Sea, Beijing accentuating its claims on this strategic area by deploying warships and installing outposts there, to the chagrin of Hanoi, which claims part of it.

© 2021 AFP