Officials and experts join the talk organised by Báo Chính phủ (Government News) newspaper on reviewing the one-year implementation of the resolution on Wednesday. Photo baochinhphu.vn

HÀ NỘI — A year after Resolution 128 was issued, experts say the nation's socio-economic situation has recovered quickly and developed in all fields, achieving many positive and impressive results.

Attending a review one year after the implementation of the resolution on Wednesday, participants praised the significant socio-economic achievements that Việt Nam made both in the COVID-19 pandemic prevention and control and economic recovery, thanks to its introduction.

At the end of September 2021, the General Statistics Office announced a severe drop of six per cent in Việt Nam's GDP growth, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Trần Quốc Phương said.

Strict social distancing measures, including travel restriction during the COVID-19 pandemic, was blamed for the negative growth.

"The negative economic growth showed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic at that time," Phương said.

After the Government issued Resolution 128 in the fourth quarter of 2021, the country's GDP began rebounding.

"Resolution 128 is a strong turning point and timely impact on the growth of the whole economy," Phương said.

He added that the resolution, along with others such as the National Assembly's Resolution 43/2022/QH15 on fiscal and monetary policies to support the socio-economic recovery and development programme, had positively impacted the whole economy.

Việt Nam's GDP growth in the third quarter of this year increased by 13.67 per cent compared with the same period of last year, proving the country's economy was recovering, Phương said.

Agriculture remains the backbone of the economy. In the first nine months of this year, the sector increased by 2.43 per cent compared to last year.

Similarly, the industrial sector recovered quickly, increasing by 9.63 per cent in the last nine months. The processing and manufacturing industry is the 'growth engine' of the economy, at 10.69 per cent.

Regarding services, when tourism reopened, most domestic service industries recovered though international visitor numbers only reached 1,800,000 in the first nine months of this year.

This is 16.4 times higher than last year's period but still down 85.4 per cent compared to 2019.

Angela Pratt, WHO Representative to Việt Nam, said that Resolution 128 was a significant milestone for Việt Nam in COVID-19 prevention and control. It shifted from controlling the spread of the virus at all costs to living with COVID-19.

Việt Nam chose sustainable management to balance COVID-19 control measures and resume socio-economic activities, she said.

She said the pandemic hugely impacted the whole world, and its social implications must be considered.

She praised Việt Nam's Resolution 128 as, first of all, it helped Việt Nam achieve a high vaccination rate which has increased over time.

Secondly, the country successfully controlled the spread of the virus from the very beginning of the pandemic, thanks to social distancing and preventive measures in public places.

In addition, the resolution came after extensive consultation with the Government, ministries, sectors, international partners and local authorities.

"This is one of the most important lessons we have learned in the fight against COVID-19 because the health sector could not cope with COVID-19 alone. It needs the cooperation of the whole society," she said.

The WHO representative said Resolution 128 helped Việt Nam balance social development and public health measures.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyễn Thị Liên Hương said that at first, the world knew little about COVID-19, did not have medicine to treat it and had no vaccine to prevent it.

Like many countries, Việt Nam imposed administrative measures and social distancing in disease control, she said, adding that such efforts focused on disease prevention and management but negatively affected life and socio-economic activities.

"The issuance of Resolution 128 is a wise, bold, brave decision which fundamentally changed thinking in the pandemic control strategy," Hương said.

"The decision is based on practical domestic and international experiences, scientific evidence, and disease monitoring and forecasting as well as the accessibility, supply and coverage of preventive vaccines, the availability of therapeutic drugs with the priority on people's safety," she added.

Phan Đức Hiếu, a National Assembly's Economic Committee member, said the twin goals of balancing disease prevention and control and economic development were vital.

Resolution 128 offered a new approach at that time.

"It is more strategic, longer term, more holistic," he said, adding that it made parties more confident in solving all problems.

"Before we had Resolution 128, businesses were very confused and passive in the organisation of production and business because they did not anticipate how anti-epidemic measures would be. Once having Resolution 128, businesses can restore trust, build a long-term business strategy and need not worry about being terminated or interrupted by administrative measures," he explained.

"So do people. They started to build their long-term living and working plans. Without a solid, long-term plan, it is difficult to create the results we see today," Hiếu said.

"I think the lessons of Resolution 128 should be drawn on two points. For businesses, the most important thing is a clear, public, transparent, predictable and long-term statement. Those are the things that should be considered as lessons for development from now to the next years," he added. VNS