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