Ho Chi Minh City Party Leader Triet Chosen as Vietnam President
06/27/2006
Jason Folkmanis,
Bloomberg Press
Nguyen Minh Triet, the head of Vietnam's ruling Communist Party in the economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City, was chosen today as the country's next president, a National Assembly delegate and a government official said.
Triet, 63, was approved by Vietnam's National Assembly, according to Vo Thi Thuy, a delegate from the south-central province of Binh Dinh, and Nguyen Van Bich, deputy head of the presidential office. Triet, who replaces 69-year-old Tran Duc Luong, then nominated Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung as the next prime minister, Thuy and Bich said.
Luong and 72-year-old outgoing Prime Minister Phan Van Khai are retiring after holding their posts since 1997. Vietnam's two-decade-old shift to a market economy, a process known as doi moi, or renovation, gained momentum during Luong and Khai's tenures, with accelerating economic growth and the opening of a stock market in Ho Chi Minh City.
"You can argue that every new set of government leaders since the beginning of doi moi has been more proactive in terms of pro-growth economic policies than the preceding set, and there's reason to assume that trend will be even more pronounced this time," said Dominic Scriven, a director of Ho Chi Minh City-based fund managers Dragon Capital.
Triet hails from the southern province of Binh Duong, which borders Ho Chi Minh City and has attracted more foreign-invested projects than any city or province in the country except Ho Chi Minh City.
In the mid-1990s, when Binh Duong was part of a province known as Song Be, Triet was the Song Be Communist Party secretary, overseeing policies such as using newly earned revenue to improve roads, bridges and power systems, and allowing private-public partnerships in transportation projects, according to a study by Vietnam scholar Edmund Malesky.
Binh Duong developed a reputation for devising unique strategies for economic growth, with local officials working to create a culture of accountability under the notion of ``dam noi, dam lam,'' or ``dare to speak, dare to do,'' Malesky wrote in the paper, included in a 2004 book published by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.
``He's been seen throughout his career as one of the most innovative economic thinkers in the Vietnamese administrative apparatus,'' said Malesky, an assistant professor of political economy specializing in Southeast Asia at the University of California in San Diego, in a telephone interview from Hanoi.
``His assuming this role is a great signal for investors.''A National Assembly vote on Dung's nomination as prime minister is expected to take place later today, according to Bich. The 56-year-old Dung, who is from the southern Mekong Delta province of Ca Mau, has been deputy prime minister since 1997, a period that included a stint when he doubled as Vietnam's central bank governor.
Dung and Triet's accession ``would represent a key break with tradition, as two southerners would hold these posts in contrast to the usual north/center/south balance for the top three positions,'' Dragon Capital said in a monthly update to investors distributed in May. ``The new administration should be the most forward-thinking in the country's modern era.''
Communist Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, the third member of Vietnam's troika of leaders, was retained in April in his position, at the end of a Party congress held every five years. The 65-year-old Manh, who was born in the northern province of Bac Kan, has held his current post since 2001.
--Editor: Tighe
