Ha Noi (VNA) - President Tran Duc Luong reaffirms "people's hearts" as the most valuable factor in the success of Viet Nam's revolution in his interview with the mass media as the lunar New Year is nearing.

Following is the full text of the President's interview:

Question: Viet Nam has recorded major achievements in socio-economic development despite numerous difficulties and challenges. What was the root of the success and what experiences should we draw to improve our leadership and management skills?

Answer: Along with taking advantage of the positive signs in the regional and world economies which have shown relatively high growth rates last year, the Vietnamese people have always been alert to the risks of political, security and economic destability caused by terrorism, poverty, environmental pollution, epidemics and an increasing development gap among nations, surges in prices in the world markets, especially in oil and gas. At home, Viet Nam last year faced numerous problems such as epidemics especially bird flu, natural calamities and hot potato issues which have emerged on the transition and development roads that we are following. Under the sound leadership of the Party and timely guidance of the central Government and local administrations, and particularly thanks to the great efforts made by the entire army, people and the business circles, Viet Nam has overcome all the difficulties and achieved major successes. Viet Nam has fulfilled or overfulfilled a number of socio-economic targets such as high economic growth with the GDP growing for the fourth year, and a sharp drop in poverty rates. People's living conditions have constantly been improved, and the political and social situation remains stable. This has all marked a new step forwards in the nation's global position and power.

To my mind, the main reason for these achievements is that the Party and State's policies have become more realistic and have enjoyed a broad support and welcome from people of all walks of life.

Firm punishments have been imposed on wrongdoings in economic management, without any exceptions even though some violators were in high positions. Measures have been taken to keep the legal checks stringent in socio-economic management. The Party strengthening work is progressing well. The Fatherland Front and other political, social and mass organisations have respected and taken seriously the exercising of democracy at the grassroots level. A number of patriotic movements have been launched to promote the nation's fine traditions, such as the custom of "friends in need", helping each other overcome difficulties.

A number of lessons have been drawn from our experiences, but the most valuable message for the Party's leadership and the State's management is " to rely on the people and work for the people". That's why all the Party and Government's policies should be continuously adjusted to the current situation in order to reach our key goal in the people's interests.

Q: What's your assessment of the State's external relations and external economic activities in 2004?

A: Last year, Viet Nam held many important external relations activities. In particular, the success of the fifth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM-5) summit, the biggest event during the year, put Viet Nam's imprint on the cooperative ties between the two continents. These ties have become more practical and effective, and created a new vision of Viet Nam and its developmental prospects for international friends, thus helping increase Viet Nam's position and cooperative opportunities with ASEM members and other countries. During the ASEM-5, Viet Nam signed 45 agreements and accords on bilateral cooperation and finished bilateral negotiations with the European Union on Viet Nam's admission to the World Trade Organisation. The target of joining the WTO in 2005 will be reached once Viet Nam completes bilateral negotiations with Cuba, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Singapore, and receives the strong support of the international forums in which Viet Nam took part, including ASEM-5, the 12th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC 12) forum and the 10th summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Within the ASEAN framework, Viet Nam put forth many initiatives and made important contributions to the building of a secure and dynamic ASEAN community with close connections in all fields. Additionally, bilateral and multilateral external activities of the Party, State, Government and National Assembly leaders and visits to Viet Nam by State leaders of other countries have contributed to boosting bilateral cooperative ties and creating a peaceful environment and stability for the country.

Recently, the Consultative Group Meeting was successful, as donors committed to grant Viet Nam 3.44 billion USD in official development assistance (ODA) in 2005. This impressive figure indicated the international community's strong support for the Vietnamese Party and State's current policies. Last year, Viet Nam obtained an export turnover of over 25 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 24 percent.

However, the country's external relations activities met with difficulties. The greatest was the lack of competitiveness of the national economy in general and each business in particular in relation to other countries. We should accelerate integration into the world economy and heavily promote international cooperation while maintaining national independence, sovereignty, cultural identity and the socialist orientation. Practical experiences in the past 20 years of renewal have helped Viet Nam confirm its determination and capacity to overcome difficulties to be victorious in the face of fierce competition.

Question: 2005 is a decisive year for the implementation of the five-year 2001-05 plan under the Resolution of the ninth National Party Congress. Could you give your assessment of Viet Nam's prospects for this year?

Answer: Really and truly, 2005 is a decisive year both in terms of fulfilling the five-year socio-economic development plan and with many great events and many big national celebrations and looking towards the tenth National Party Congress. To achieve our targets, the entire Party, people and army must be determined to boost economic growth in both speed and quality, strive for a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 8.5 percent. In the meantime, special attention should be paid to effectively mobilising and using internal and external resources, raising the effectiveness of investment and the competitiveness of the macro-economy, and keeping the increase in the consumer price index lower than that of GDP. I would like to emphasise that 2005 is the year that the Vietnamese economy is deeply penetrating into the integration process as we have started carrying out all the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) pledges and we will continue our negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which will pose many opportunities and challenges.

We are determined to successfully fulfil the social, economic and cultural development tasks. The tradition of our Party and the nation has been never to give up on any challenges. We are enjoying favourable conditions such as the country's current global position and strength, sound guidelines covering the people, the Party leadership and the State management, a close-knit nation, and the maintenance of political stability and social security. These are the decisive factors for our country's future successes.

On the occasion of the Spring of the Rooster 2005, I would like to send my best wishes to our fellow countrymen in and outside the country and I believe that with the patriotic tradition, resilience and revolutionary, active and hard-working spirit, the entire Party, people and army are entering 2005 with new impetus and drive to achieve successes in socio-economic development, defence and security, and successfully carry out the renewal process and national industrialisation and modernisation for the goals of a prosperous people, a strong country, and a fair, democratic and civilised society./.