Vietnam's development aspiration to become a high-income country by 2045 has not changed in recent years, but the pathways to achieve that status have. First, the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the forces of deglobalization and higher recognition of the country's vulnerability to external shocks, especially climate change, has unleashed undercurrents that pose significant challenges to Vietnam's current growth model. Second, the accumulated challenges of an uneven implementation record of the past 35 years have left Vietnam's institutions underprepared to address more complex development challenges, many of which are cross-cutting in nature, such as climate change and support of a higher-income society. The Systematic Country Diagnostics (SCD) Update will analyze how these two challenges-one contemporary and one historic-are expected to reorient the country's development priorities and what Vietnam needs to do differently to achieve its development aspiration.