US embassy cable - 03HOCHIMINHCITY578

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