History will judge the contributions and legacy of General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong. During these sad days, as a person who has been working closely with him for more than ten years, I’d like to highlight some of the most profound impressions of him. 

As a Party theorist, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made great efforts to apply Marxism-Leninism and the Ho Chi Minh Ideology to Vietnamese reality. After the Soviet Union and the socialist system in East Europe collapsed, the theory of building socialism in Vietnam faced many challenges. Therefore, he directed the Party’s theoretical agencies based on the country’s reality and the international situation, to perfect the theory of building socialism on the foundation of the Doi Moi reform launched by the Party in 1986. He also published many important theoretical works on this issue.

Building socialist-oriented market economic institutions must first have a full market economy. The socialist orientation is using the State's resources to ensure that the economy is strong enough to cope with crisis risks, eliminating the manipulation of "group interests" and ensuring equal opportunities for all subjects of the economy. This ensures enjoying policies, accessing national resources, and the best social security for the people, with priority given to the disadvantaged sectors. 

Socialist orientation is mainly implemented using market tools and social security policies, not non-market intervention in the economic operation. Vietnamese Party fully affirmed this viewpoint when Nguyen Phu Trong was General Secretary. Currently, 72 countries recognise that Vietnam has a market economy, including all ASEAN countries and large market economies, such as Japan, the UK, Canada, and Australia.

Building a socialist rule-of-law State. For the first time, the Vietnamese Party determined that " The Vietnamese State is a socialist rule- of-law state", in the "Platform for National Construction in the period of transition to socialism (amended and further developed in 2011) at the 11th National Congress of the Communist Party (January 2011), which decided to appoint Nguyen Phu Trong as General Secretary for the first time. Also during the time that Nguyen Phu Trong was General Secretary, the socialist rule-of-law State was written into the 2013 Constitution. The Constitution also stipulates human rights and civil rights for the first time, stipulating that "Human rights and citizens’ rights may not be limited unless prescribed by a law, solely in case of necessity for reasons of national defence, national security, social order and safety, social morality and community well-being." (Clause 2, Article 14).

On behalf of the Party Central Committee, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong signed Resolution No. 27-NQ/TW on “continuing to build and perfect the law-governed socialist Vietnamese state in the new period” on November 9, 2022, after it was approved at the 6th Conference of the 13th Party Central Committee. This was considered a “key task in innovating the political system” while “respect for the Constitution and the law becomes the standard of conduct for all subjects in the society.” This resolution needs time to be legislated and brought into life.

At the 13th Party Congress (January 25, 2021 - February 2, 2021), General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong affirmed: “Our country has never had such opportunity, potential, position, nor international prestige as it does today.” That statement is completely correct.

The results of implementing the 10-year socio-economic strategy for the 2011-2020 period proposed at the 11th Party Congress raised the scale of the economy by 2.4 times, whereby the scale in 2020 was 1.4 times higher than that of 2015. Vietnam ranks 35th among the 40 largest economies in the world and is one of the 16 most successful emerging economies in the world. The economic growth rate was high, and Vietnam was among the 10 countries with the highest economic growth rates in the world in the 2016-2019 period. The process of hunger eradication and poverty reduction has achieved spectacular achievements. In the last five years of the strategy, the poverty rate decreased from 9.88% in 2015 to 2.75% in 2020.

According to the World Bank, universal health care in Vietnam has made progress while living standards have been increasingly improving. The universal health care coverage index is 73 (out of 100), higher than the regional average and the world average. Vietnam’s average number of years of schooling is 10.2 years, ranking second in the region, only behind Singapore. Vietnam’s human capital index is 0.69 out of a maximum of one, ranking highest among economies with the same income level. People’s access to infrastructure has been significantly improved. As of 2019, 99.4% of the population are using electricity for lighting, compared to 14% in 1993.

With its international position and reputation, Vietnam has established comprehensive partnerships with 12 countries and strategic partnerships with 18 countries, of which 7 countries are comprehensive strategic partners. Most of these partnerships were established during the period when Nguyen Phu Trong was General Secretary. Of the 7 comprehensive strategic partnerships with Vietnam, excluding that established with China in 2008, 6 partners were established during the time Nguyen Phu Trong was General Secretary.

The Vietnamese economy has been integrating more and more deeply into the global economy. Of the 16 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam has signed and are currently in effect, half of the FTAs, of which all 5 new generation FTAs were signed during the period of Nguyen Phu Trong serving as General Secretary. 

FTAs, especially the new generation FTAs, have not only strongly promoted free trade and positively impacted economic growth, but their very high integration commitments have promoted and shortened the completion of the system. The legal system is compatible with the market mechanism, quickly building and perfecting the institutions of a socialist-oriented market economy.

The notable achievements that have driven the aforementioned strong development of the country are the collective efforts of the Politburo, the Party Central Committee, the Government, and the entire political system over many tenures. They are the inheritance and continuation of the achievements from the nearly 40 years of Doi Moi (Renewal), with the significant role of comrade Nguyen Phu Trong as the Party leader for over 13 years.

At the most recent Party Congress, I was assigned by the General Secretary to head the Sub-Committee on Socio-Economic Affairs. Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong fully supported new perspectives and provided sharp directives for the Sub-Committee to propose new policies, especially in building a socialist-oriented market economy and constructing a socialist rule-of-law state.

Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong has also shown particular interest in cultural development. Notably, he chaired the National Cultural Conference on November 24, 2021. This conference was of historical significance, commemorating the 75th anniversary of President Ho Chi Minh chairing the first National Cultural Conference (November 24, 1946). This conference summarised and drew lessons from the cultural development process over the nearly 40 years of Doi Moi (Renewal) and marked a turning point in cultural revival and development, meeting the comprehensive development requirements of the country in the new situation and bearing the strong imprint of Comrade Nguyen Phu Trong.

In the special communiqué on organising the national funeral for Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, our Party and State acknowledged that “he has made great and exceptionally outstanding contributions to the glorious revolutionary cause of the Party and the nation.” As a close associate of the comrade, I believe that his contributions to promoting the renewal process in the country's development, marked by the milestones I mentioned, are the most significant imprints.