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              Vietnam Politburo Selects First U.S.-Educated Member

   by Reuters

   Vietnam's ruling Communist Party has appointed for the first time a
   U.S.-educated official to its powerful politburo, a landmark decision
   as pressure mounts to reform an economy stagnating after years of boom
   growth.
   The top decision-making body of the party that has ruled Vietnam since
   1975 voted to increase its membership and bring in Nguyen Thien Nhan, a
   deputy prime minister overseeing education, health and technology, it
   said on its website (dangcongsan.vn).
   Nhan, 59, has a master's degree in public policy from the University of
   Oregon and joins an elite group long dominated by politicians educated
   locally or in the former Soviet Union.
   Vietnam's ruling party is facing its toughest economic challenges in
   years and has vowed reforms to tackle crippling debt in its banking
   system, and mismanagement at scores of cash-sapping state-owned firms.
   Economists say policymakers have acted effectively to rein in inflation
   but have been too slow, or reluctant, to implement the sweeping
   structural changes needed to revive what was a promising ``tiger''
   economy now growing at its slowest pace in 13 years, and put Vietnam
   back on foreign investors' radar.
   Vietnam's economy is hamstrung by weak credit growth and consumer
   demand that has forced 113,000 businesses to close since 2011, when
   inflation soared to over 20 percent and foreign investors delivered
   only a sixth of the $64 billion pledged.
   The politburo also picked its second female member, Nguyen Thi Kim
   Ngan, a deputy chairwoman of parliament. Ngan, also 59, is a former
   deputy minister of trade and finance. The two appointments will
   increase the politburo's size to 16 members.
   Nhan studied in the former East Germany in the 1970s before being
   awarded a scholarship to the United States. He also served as vice
   mayor of Ho Chi Minh City.
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   ember-nguyen-thien-nhan/1659648.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/vietnam-politburo-first-us-educated-member-nguyen-thien-nhan/1659648.html