INDEPENDENT NEWS

Cablegate: New Appointments for Officials From Danang and Lam Dong

Published: Thu 26 Jun 2003 12:52 AM
This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 HO CHI MINH CITY 000578
SIPDIS
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV
E. O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINR PGOV VM DPOL
SUBJECT: NEW APPOINTMENTS FOR OFFICIALS FROM DANANG AND LAM DONG
UNCLASSIFIED
SIPDIS
PROG 06/25/2003
CG ELYAMAUCHI
ECONJO LHKIRKPATRICK
DPO SNWHITE
POL
AMCONSUL HO CHI MINH CITY
SECSTATE WASHDC ROUTINE
DIA WASHDC ROUTINE
CIA WASHDC ROUTINE
INFO AMEMBASSY HANOI ROUTINE
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/BCLTV
1. Summary. A spurt of promotions will see the Party Secretaries
from both Danang City and Lam Dong Province move to high-ranking
positions in the Communist Party in Hanoi. The Danang City Deputy
Party Secretary will then become the Party Secretary there, while
a Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from Hanoi
will become Party Secretary for Lam Dong Province. End Summary.
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DANANG CITY
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2. In the Party Congress in Danang City on June 23, 2003, Mr.
Nguyen Ba Thanh, Deputy Party Secretary and Chairman of Danang
City People's Committee, was unanimously elected to be Party
Secretary of the Danang Party Committee. He will continue to hold
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his current position until the next meeting of the Danang City
People's Council, probably at the end of July. At that meeting he
will present his resignation as head of the People's Committee and
the Council will vote on his successor. Mr. Thanh moves up to
succeed Mr. Nguyen Duc Hat, who will go to Hanoi to take the post
of Deputy Head of the Central Commission on Organizational Affairs
for the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Both appointments have
been arranged by the CPV but will not be final until confirmed by
the Politburo, which will issue a formal decision.
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LAM DONG PROVINCE
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3. The CPV also announced in "Saigon Giai Phong" newspaper on
June 25, that Mr. Nguyen Van Dang, the First Deputy Minister of
Agriculture and Rural Development and a member of the Executive
Party Committee in Hanoi, will assume the position of the Party
Secretary of Lam Dong Province. Mr. Dang will replace Mr. Nguyen
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Hoai Bao, who is leaving his positions as Party Secretary of Lam
Dong Province and Chairman of the Lam Dong Province People's
Council to go to Hanoi and take the post of Deputy Head of the
Central Commission on Mass Mobilization in charge of the South.
The Politburo has not yet issued formal decisions on these
appointments either, but they are considered pro forma.
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Comment
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4. The CPV regularly rotates its high-level officials among the
different regions of Vietnam, and the promotion of Mr. Hat and Mr.
Bao to high-level CPV positions speaks well of their performance
in Danang and Lam Dong. Danang City ranks fourth after Ho Chi
Minh City, Hanoi and Hai Phong for per capita income in Vietnam.
It is the commercial hub for the provinces in the middle region of
Vietnam, and has been modernizing and growing rapidly over the
past three years. Mr. Thanh's promotion to Party Secretary sends
a positive message for growth in the city. In his current deputy
role, he has worked with the people of Danang to successfully
carry out controversial the land reclamation and resettlement
projects that were the necessary precursors to modernizing the
city's infrastructure. When the central government balked at the
idea of funding a new bridge in Danang, he raised most of the
funds by mobilizing local resources -- and the GVN later offered
to fund the rest. Mr. Thanh has organized press conferences to
discuss problems in the city. In response to public concerns, he
set up a civil security corps to regulate traffic flows and crack
down on street crime.
5. The southernmost of the "Central Highland" provinces, Lam Dong
is famous for its agriculture, but has suffered from the drop in
coffee and other commodity prices. The appointment of Mr. Dang to
the position of Party Secretary -- with his experience as the
First Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development -- may
mean the CPV wants to focus on those areas. As Provincial Party
Secretary, Mr. Dang will have to balance the picturesque tourist
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center of Dalat against the periphery of Lam Dong's rural poor, in
order to bring greater development to the province as a whole. He
will also have to address the same volatile mix of ethnic
minorities, land disputes and outlawed religious groups that exist
in the three neighboring Central Highlands provinces of Dak Lak,
Gia Lai, and Kon Tum. Lam Dong Province also gets more than its
share of attention when it comes to tourism development, because
its capital city, Dalat, is a very popular destination for both
Vietnamese and foreigners. However, Lam Dong provincial
authorities do not enjoy a good reputation when it comes to
creating a hospitable climate for foreign investment. A
Singaporean firm recently pulled out of a joint venture, and an
American corporate businessman has also experienced problems
there.
YAMAUCHI
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