VietNamNet Bridge – Mrs. Nguyen Phuong Nga, chief of the Information and Press Department cum spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has been appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister.

Nga, 48, graduated from the Moscow International Relationship University and joined the Information and Press Department in 1989. She can speak fluently three foreign languages: English, French and Russian.

Nga worked at the Vietnamese embassies in Thailand, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Vietnamese delegation to the EU. She was appointed as chief of the Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department cum spokesperson in August 2009, replacing Le Dung, who is now Vietnam's Consul General in Houston, USA.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has also appointed Pham Quang Vinh, assistant to the Foreign Minister and head of the SOM (ASEAN Senior Official Meeting) Vietnam, as Deputy Foreign Minister.

Nguyen Khac Dinh, assistant to the Prime Minister, was assigned as Vice chair of the Government Office while Bui Quoc Bao, head of the Secretarial-editorial Department of the Government Office was nominated as the Prime Minister’s assistant.

At the first session, the 13th National Assembly approved the government’s proposal to appoint Pham Binh Minh as the Foreign Minister and Vu Duc Dam as Chief of the Government Office.

PV