http://www.granma.cu/ingles/2007/junio/vier1/general-secretary-communist.html
General secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam begins official visit NONG Duc Manh, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, is beginning an official and friendly visit to Cuba today. With this, his second visit to our country, he is concluding a successful tour of Latin America that included Chile, Brazil and Venezuela and began with a brief stopover at José Martà International Airport in Havana. Nong Duc Manh was born on September 11, 1940 in Cuong Loi, Bac Can, into a campesino family of the Tay minority. In his adolescence he began to study Forestry, specifically in the Central Agri-Forestry Technical School in Hanoi. His working life started when he was 22 as a research technician in the Bac Can Forestry Department. After entering the Communist Party of Viet Nam in 1963, he was appointed deputy chief of the Timber Brigade in BachThong. >From 1966 to 1971 he studied at the Leningrad Forestry Institute and >subsequently became vice president of the Inspection Commission of the >Forestry Department and was director of the Phu Luong Forestry Plantation, >both in Bac Thai. After studying at the Higher Institute of the Party and as a member of the Provincial Committee of that organization in Bac Thai, he held various posts in that province until 1980: deputy head of the Forestry Department, director of the Forestry Construction Enterprise, and head of the Forestry Department. >From 1980-1983 he was vice president of the People's Council and from 1984-6, >deputy secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Party and president of the >Bac Thai People's Council where, from 1986-1989, he was secretary of the >Provincial Committee of the Party. In 1986 he was elected as a supplementary member of the Central Committee of the Party at the 6th Congress and, three years later, in March 1989, he was elected as a full member. In August of that year he was appointed head of the Minorities Commission of the Central Committee and, in November, he was elected as a deputy to the National Assembly in the 8th Legislature in which he occupied the position of vice president of the Minorities Council. In 1991 he was elected as a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee and, the following year, president of the National Assembly in the 9th Legislature. At the 8th Party Congress in 1996 he was reelected as a member of the Political Bureau and, in 1997 also reelected as president of the National Assembly in the 10th Legislature. In January 1998 he was elected as executive member of the Political Bureau. At the 9th Party Congress in April 2001 he was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, a post to which he was reelected during the 10th Party Congress in April 2006. On account of his outstanding development and contributions to the revolutionary cause, Non Duc Manh has received various national and international decorations. Translated by Granma International [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
