Luong renominated as president

Luong renominated as president

VIETNAM: Vietnamese Communist Party technocrat Tran Duc Luong was renamed president for another five-year term on Tuesday, assembly sources said.

National Assembly chairman Nguyen Van An, elected by delegates earlier in the day to head the country's highest legislative body, nominated 65-year-old Luong to the post of state president.

The nomination is scheduled to be approved by assembly delegates on Wednesday.

A Soviet-trained geologist, Luong has been in office since September 1997, holding one of the three top positions in the secretive ruling hierarchy alongside those of Communist Party chief and prime minister.

The president is responsible for foreign policy, the armed forces and internal party security but is viewed as holding the least powerful of the three posts. -- Reuters