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Vietnamese deputy FM set to be ASEAN’s next secretary-general

Under the leadership of Surin Pitsuwan, the ship of ASEAN sailed, albeit with some difficulties, through troubled waters over the last several years

Veeramalla Anjaiah (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, August 8, 2012

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Vietnamese deputy FM set to be ASEAN’s next secretary-general

U

nder the leadership of Surin Pitsuwan, the ship of ASEAN sailed, albeit with some difficulties, through troubled waters over the last several years.

With his Harvard doctorate, pleasant personality and diplomatic skills, Surin, the former prime minister of Thailand, was considered the right person to fill the association’s hot seat.

However, in less than five months, Surin must relinquish his job, leaving the gargantuan task of building the ASEAN Community by 2015 to a successor.

Barring any unexpected developments, Vietnam’s deputy foreign minister Le Luong Minh, will become the association’s next secretary-general.

Officially, Vietnam has not yet named Minh, a career diplomat, as its candidate for ASEAN’s top post, which is held on a rotating basis.

“The post of ASEAN secretary-general is being rotated alphabetically every five years among its 10-member countries. It is now Vietnam’s turn to take the secretary-general post from Thailand,” Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to ASEAN, Ambassador Vu Dang Dung, told The Jakarta Post recently in Jakarta.

However, no other candidates have been said to be in the running for the job.

“Our government is planning to nominate our deputy foreign minister, Le Luong Minh, for the post of ASEAN secretary-general. The final decision will be made at the next ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh” in November, a source at the Vietnamese Prime Minister’s Office told the Post in Hanoi recently. Although the appointment has not been approved, Surin has welcomed Minh’s appointment.

“I feel relieved already,” Surin said at a press conference during the 20th ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, in April as reported by talkvietnam.com.

Minh is an alumnus of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. He joined the foreign service in 1975, just after the reunification of Vietnam.

The extensive experience that Minh has accumulated representing Vietnam at the United Nations will be a boon at the helm of the regional association.

Minh, who is married and has two daughters, spent 14 years working at the United Nations, including seven years as the permanent representative of Vietnam in Geneva, Switzerland, and New York City in the US.

The 60-year-old became the president of the UN’s most powerful body, the Security Council, twice — first in July 2008 and again in October 2009 — when Vietnam held non-permanent seat on the Security Council.

Minh has served as Vietnam’s deputy foreign minister since December 2008.

If selected, Minh will assume his new post on Jan. 1, 2013.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia and Brunei Darussalam.

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