Here under are Vietnam’s top ten events in 2009 selected by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA):

1- The Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC) decided that the 11th National Party Congress will be held in January 2011.

The decision was given out at the 10th conference of the 10th CPVCC.

The 11th congress will discuss passing the Political Report and the report reviewing 20 years of implementing and developing the platform to build the country during the transitional period to socialism.

The congress will also review implementation of the socio-economic development strategy for the 2001-2010 period and pass the strategy for the 2011-2020 period.

2- The Government’s timely economic stimulus measures brought socio-economic efficiency.

Stimulus programmes helped prevent economic slowdown, stabilise the macro economy, maintain GDP growth at 5.2 percent and ensure social security despite continual impacts of the global economic downturn.

The achievements were important bases for foreign donors to pledge to give Vietnam over 8 billion USD in official development assistance (ODA) in 2010, a record high over the past 16 years.

3- Foreign affairs’ efforts attained great achievements and helped raise Vietnam’s positions in the international arena.

Vietnam fulfilled its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. The country completed the project on land border demarcation with China with signed documents on land border marking and management of land border and border gates in the common land of the two countries.

Numerous visits to foreign countries by Party and State leaders helped solidify partnership and strategic relations with many countries.

4- The Government announced the first national database on administrative procedures.

The database, available at website http://csdl.thutuchanhchinh.vn.provides everyone with clear and transparent administrative procedures at all authorised levels, marking a progress in administrative reform.

5- The first Overseas Vietnamese Conference took place successfully in Hanoi from Nov. 21-23.

The conference drew the participation of over 900 overseas Vietnamese from 52 countries and territories. The event affirmed Vietnam’s policy to consider overseas Vietnamese as a non-severable part of the Vietnamese community and it displayed the aspiration of over 4 million people living abroad.

6- A/H1N1 flu appeared and rapidly spread nationwide. The epidemic appeared in Vietnam in late May and infected 63 cities and provinces in the country, causing over 40 deaths and mass hysteria.

7- Two strong typhoons Ketsana and Mirinae stroked the central region and the Central Highlands, claiming 298 deaths and missing people as well as losses up to 19 trillion VND (over 1 billion USD).

8- The UNESCO recognised “Quan Ho Bac Ninh” singing (Bac Ninh folk love duets), ca tru (ceremonial songs) and ancient woodblocks from the Nguyen Dynasty as world cultural heritages.

Quan Ho Bac Ninh was recognised as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, while Ca Tru was put in the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding. The woodblocks from the Nguyen Dynasty were recognised as World Documentary Heritage.

9- Vietnam gained high records at regional and continental sports competitions.

The country ranked second in the medal with 83 gold medals out of a total of 215 medals of all kinds at the 25th Southeast Asian Games in Laos . It also placed second at the third Asian Indoor Games (AIG 3) with 42 gold medals out of a total of 94 medals of all kinds.

10- Professor Ngo Bao Chau was honoured by US-based Time Magazine as author of one of the 10 scientific discoveries of the world in 2009.

Prof. Chau, 37, who currently works at Universite Paris-Sud and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) in Princeton, formulated an ingenious proof of a fundamental lemma in the Langlands Programme that was proposed by the Canadian-American mathematician Robert Langlands 30 years ago./.