Vietnam narrows Government cabinet personnel in new term

The Vietnamese Government will reduce the number of Deputy Prime Ministers in the new 2011-2016 term from five to four.

Minister, Chairman of the Government Office Nguyen Xuan Phuc (right) nominated as one of Deputy Prime Ministers

This new structure presented by newly re-elected Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, got 489 out of 497 votes during the first session of 13th National Assembly.

The country will maintain the same number of ministries, at 18, as well as the four ministerial-level agencies: the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV), the Government Inspectorate and the Government Office.

Four candidates nominated as Deputy PMs
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung submitted a list of four candidates to the National Assembly for the position of Deputy Prime Ministers.
Among those, two were re-nominated: Mr. Hoang Trung Hai and Mr. Nguyen Thien Nhan. The other two are first-time nominees: Mr. Nguyen Xuan Phuc who is acting as Minister, Chairman of the Government Office, and Mr. Vu Van Ninh, the current Minister of Finance.
The PM also proposed a list of 22 candidates for the leaders of 18 ministries and four ministerial-level agencies. Of these, 7 were re-nominated and 15 are new.
Among the candidates, the youngest is Vu Duc Dam, 48 years old, currently Secretary of Quang Ninh Province’s Party Committee, and the oldest is Minister of Defense Phung Quang Thanh, 62 years old.
There are also two female candidates. Pham Thi Hai Chuyen was nominated as the Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affaris, and Nguyen Thi Kim Tien who was nominated as the Minister of Health.
The first session of 13th National Assembly will end tomorrow (August 3) after finishing the selection of Vietnam's leaders for the next four years.