The Vietnam News Agency reports on the approval of changes to the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers.
The Vietnamese government approved personnel changes in the Cabinet: for the first time in the country’s history, a woman has been appointed to the position of deputy prime minister – Pham Thi Thanh Tra, the former Minister of Internal Affairs.
An official statement confirmed the changes to the cabinet.
Personnel changes in the Vietnamese government
The nomination of the new deputy prime minister was proposed by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính, and it was supported by 429 of the 430 lawmakers present at the session.
Pham Thi Thanh Tra, 61, was born in Nghe An Province in central Vietnam. She has had a long career in the Communist Party: over the past decade she has been a member of the Central Committee and has held posts in the Central Committee’s Organizational Commission, responsible for personnel decisions and approving candidates for senior government positions.
The newly appointed deputy prime minister is also a deputy in the most recent term of the National Assembly. In April 2021 she was approved to serve as Vietnam’s Minister of Internal Affairs, becoming the first woman to head the Ministry since its founding in 1945.
Considering the latest government appointments, the leadership apparatus of the current Vietnamese Cabinet has expanded to 10 people, including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chính and 9 deputies.
The National Assembly, which according to the Vietnamese Constitution is the highest body of legislative power in the country, began on October 20 its final session of this year, which will last until December 11. The session precedes the five-year Party Congress in January, which will determine the main directions for the country’s development over the next five years and, as expected, elect a new team of party-state leadership.
Profile of Pham Thi Thanh Tra
Pham Thi Thanh Tra has extensive experience in party and state structures. She has served on the Central Committee and was responsible for personnel policy and approving candidates for leadership positions, making her one of the key figures in the country’s personnel processes. Her appointment as deputy prime minister underscores shifts in policy and the direction of Vietnam’s administrative system.
