The National Assembly has approved the personnel of the cabinet for the term 2021 – 2026, with 27 members including: The Prime Minister, 4 Deputy Prime Ministers and 22 ministers and heads of agencies.

Among the 27 cabinet members, there are two women: Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra and State Bank of Vietnam Governor Nguyen Thi Hong. Both are the first female commanders of their sectors and both hold a master's degree.

First female Minister of Home Affairs

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra.

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra was born in 1964. Her hometown is the central province of Nghe An. She holds a master's degree in educational management, and a bachelor's degree in pedagogy.

She is a member of the 12th, 13th Party Central Committee; Deputy head of the Central Organization Commission; member of the 15th National Assembly.

Tra grew up in the education sector of the northern province of Yen Bai. In December 1999, she turned to the political path as Vice Chair of the People's Committee of Tran Yen district, Yen Bai province.

Since then until September 2016, she has had the following positions: Deputy Secretary and then Secretary of the Provincial Youth Union; Head of the Propaganda Department of the Provincial Party Committee; Vice Chair of the Provincial People's Committee; Secretary of the Party Committee of Yen Bai City; Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chair of the Provincial People's Committee. She had 4 months assuming both positions - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chair of the People's Committee.

Before being appointed as Deputy Head of the Central Organization Commission and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs on October 1, 2020, she was for nearly 4 years the Secretary of the Party Committee, Chair of the People's Council of Yen Bai province (2/2017 - 9/2020).

At the 13th Party Congress in January 2021, Tra was re-elected to the Party Central Committee of the new term and was approved by the 14th National Assembly as the Minister of Home Affair in April 2021.

Tra is the first female Minister of Home Affairs in the past 75 years, since the establishment of the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

In the first three months as Minister, Tra’s proposed to the Prime Minister removing the requirement for hundreds of unnecessary training certificates for civil servants and public employees, including certificates of foreign languages and informatics.

The first female Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong.

Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Thi Hong was born in 1968 in Hanoi. She holds a master's degree in economics, a bachelor's degree in English. She is a member of the 13th Party Central Committee.

Hong is the first female governor of the central bank of Vietnam since the bank was established.

Minister Tra has a lot of experience in leadership and management at both the local and central levels, from Party to government work, while Governor Nguyen Thi Hong has been worked at the SBV for many years. Hong had decades of experience in monitoring and in charge of monetary policy before working as deputy director and then director.

After six years as Deputy Governor, she is considered to be a person with expertise and a key advisor for important policies of the State Bank. She was approved by the 14th National Assembly to be the Governor of the State Bank on November 12, 2020.

Hong has been in the new position for nearly eight months, which was also a time when the country faced difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic.

Under the direction of the female Governor with the motto "proactive and flexible monetary policy", in close coordination with fiscal policy and macroeconomic policies, inflation has been controlled, supporting macroeconomic stability, and contributing to the recovery of economic growth GDP growth in the first 6 months of the year.

Thu Hang