Party General Secretary and President To Lam and delegates pose for a group photo. Photo: VNA   

The 13th National Congress of the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union (HCYU) for the 2026–2031 term officially opened in Hanoi on June 25 morning, drawing the nation’s high-ranking leaders and hundreds of delegates to shape the next generation of Vietnamese youth.

Party General Secretary and State President To Lam attended the opening session and delivered a keynote address.

Also present were former and incumbent Party, State, National Assembly and Government leaders, senior officials from ministries, agencies, Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), and mass organisations; heroic Vietnamese mothers, Heroes of the People’s Armed Forces; leaders of the municipal and provincial Party committees, along with 788 outstanding delegates representing more than 5.1 million HCYU members and nearly 22 million young people nationwide.

In his opening speech, First Secretary of the HCYU Central Committee and Vice President of the VFF Central Committee Bui Quang Huy said youth union work and youth movements over the past term achieved important results with clear and lasting hallmarks under the motto “Aspiration – Pioneering – Solidarity – Courage – Creativity”.

  Delegates perform the flag ceremony at the congress' opening ceremony. Photo: VNA   

He pointed to a sweeping transformation in mindset, content, and operational methods, steering the HCYU toward greater practicality, tighter alignment with real-world conditions, and a sharp youth-centred focus. Sci-tech, innovation, and digital transformation have become standout hallmarks, dramatically improving outreach, education, youth engagement, and the union’s expanding footprint in the digital space.

Through three major action movements and three accompanying youth support programmes, the pioneering role, sense of responsibility, and soaring aspirations of young people continued to surge forward. A wave of exemplary individuals has emerged in study, labour, scientific research, entrepreneurship, volunteering, digital transformation, and national defence, reinforcing the image of Vietnamese youth in the new era as resilient, intelligent, pioneering, ambitious, and socially responsible, he said.

The Congress lands at a pivotal moment as the country is stepping into a new era powered by sci-tech, innovation, digital transformation, and global integration, and the resolutions of the 14th National Party Congress and the VFF’s 11th National Congress of the VFF are being put into action, opening up new opportunities for youth development and contribution.

Huy expressed confidence that the Congress’s decisions would mirror the younger generation’s steadfast trust in the Party and political system, along with their determination, ambition, and aspiration to contribute to national development goals toward 2030, with a vision to 2045.

The 2022–2026 term recorded notable achievements, including innovations in outreach methods, more action movements that genuinely enabled young people to grow and contribute; and a growing capacity for creativity, digital skills, and technological mastery. Support programmes increasingly focused on holistic youth development, while HCYU building, youth mobilisation, and deeper involvement in Party building efforts all continued to draw strong attention.

Building on the 12th term’s achievements and lessons, the 2026–2031 youth union agenda sets out to shape a a generation of Vietnamese youth armed with revolutionary ideals, moral integrity, unshakeable resilience, a spirit of contribution, and the ability to adapt and thrive in the digital era.

To get there, the new term will launch the broad movement “Vietnamese Youth Pioneering in the New Era” and power ahead with the programme “Holistic Development of Vietnamese Youth.” The focus will be on building a strong, modern, and capable HCYU, raising the quality of its responsibility toward the Ho Chi Minh Vanguard Children’s Union, and cementing the role of youth as a driving force in Party and political system building./.