VIETNAM’S most important political gathering began today, as the country’s Communist Party convened to decide the country’s leadership and broad policy course for the next five years.

A total of 1,586 delegates from across Vietnam gathered in the capital, Hanoi, for the National Congress, the party’s highest decision-making body.

The congress meets every five years to elect its top leadership and set priorities shaping the country’s political and economic direction.

Delegates will elect about 200 members to the party’s central committee, which in turn appoints 17 to 19 members to the politburo.

Communist Party general secretary To Lam is expected to be confirmed for a full five-year term.

A crucial question is whether he will also move to combine the roles of party chief and state president, as many diplomats and analysts expect.

Vietnam has traditionally been governed through a “four pillars” system in which the party chief, president, prime minister and National Assembly chair balance one another.

Delegates will finalise a resolution of a draft document released in October that aimed for an average annual GDP growth of 10 per cent or more from 2026 to 2030.

Last year, Vietnam’s GDP grew by 8 per cent.