Vietnam parliament elects key personnel

The National Assembly (NA) today [October 21] approved resolutions on the appointment of the Minister of Transport, Minister of Health, and Auditor General.

Minister of Transport Nguyen Van Thang. File photo

During today’s meeting, the NA appointed Secretary of the Dien Bien Province Party Committee Nguyen Van Thang as  Minister of Transport for the 2021-2026 period with the endorsement of 87.15% of deputies present.

Thang, 49, is currently a member of the 13th Party Central Committee. He spent 18 years working at VientinBank, holding positions from director of VietinBank's Hanoi branch to general director and then chairman of the board of directors.

In July 2018, he was appointed  Vice Chairman of the Quang Ninh Province People’s Committee, and then Chairman.

Since October 2020, Thang held the position of Secretary of the Dien Bien Province Party Committee.

On the same day, the NA approved the decision to release the current Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The from duties due to his personal wish.

Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan.

The NA also approved the appointment of Acting Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan  as the Minister of Health with an endorsement of 87.17%.

Lan, the former Secretary of the Bac Ninh Province Party Committee, was appointed  acting minister on July 15 after the arrest of her predecessor Nguyen Thanh Long due to his involvement in the Covid-19 test kit scam by Viet A, a company that had inflated the price of Covid-19 test kits by 45% and gave bribes to sell them to health centers nationwide at unfair gains.

Lan has no background in the health sector before taking over the position.

Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan.

Another key appointment was that of Deputy Auditor General Ngo Van Tuan as Auditor General for the 2021-2026 term with an approval rating of 92.17%.

His predecessor was Tran Sy Thanh, who now serves as chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee.