National Assembly to elect legislature leader, State President this week

The National Assembly will first elect the National Assembly chairman and then State President this week, said Bui Van Cuong, General Secretary of the legislative body, at a press briefing ahead of the opening ceremony of the mid-year session.

The high-level personnel work is expected to last for two and a half days, from May 20 to May 22.

The Party Central Committee in its ninth plenum in Hanoi last week highly agreed to nominate General To Lam, Politburo member and Minister of Public Security, as President; and Tran Thanh Man, Politburo member, Standing Vice Chairman of the National Assembly, as Chairman of the legislature.

Earlier, State President Vo Van Thuong and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue requested leaving their posts according to their personal wishes, and their requests were later accepted by the Party Central Committee.

During the 26-day session, the National Assembly is scheduled to examine and approve 10 bills and three draft resolutions, and give opinions on 11 other bills. It will also look at the implementation of major socio-economic development and budgetary tasks, as well as other important issues.

The legislature will spend two and a half days grilling five heads of ministries and ministerial agencies over issues of voter concerns.

The pressing issues will be focused on major fields such as resources - environment; audit; industry and trade; culture-sport-tourism; and education-training.