Vietnamese President To Lam attends a press briefing with Russian President Vladimir Putin (not pictured), at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, June 20, 2024. – Reuters
HANOI: Vietnam’s newly installed Communist Party chief To Lam says he will "resolutely” continue an aggressive anti-graft campaign while working to ease bureaucratic bottlenecks to help the economy.
Lam, 67, was elected by the Party Central Committee Saturday (Aug 3) to become the next general secretary after he stepped in to oversee the party a day before party chief Nguyen Phu Trong Trong died on July 19. Lam will serve the remainder of Trong’s third term, which ends in early 2026 when a new general secretary will be picked during the Party Congress.
Lam, speaking at a briefing, said that he would continue the anti-corruption campaign spearheaded by his predecessor. "This fight will continue to be strongly pushed forward,” he said. The effort will have "a motto of non-stop and no prohibited areas,” Lam said.
The former security minister and Trong’s long-time anti-corruption crusader helped lift Vietnam’s ranking in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index to 83 last year from 113 in 2016. Analysts say Lam is favored to win a full term as party chief, though it’s not guaranteed.
The new party head, who is also the country’s president, said he would equally be focused on boosting the economy, seeking new investments and reforming administrative procedures to accelerate business activity. There would be no shifts in Vietnam’s foreign policy, Lam said. – Bloomberg
