Former PM Võ Văn Kiệt

The information was released in a special communiqué in Hà Nội on June 12 by the CPV Central Committee, the National Assembly, the State President, the Government and the Việt Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee.

According to the communiqué, Mr. Kiệt had joined revolutionary activities for more than 70 years and made many great contributions to the revolutionary cause of the CPV and the nation. His death was a great loss to the Party, State and people, said the communiqué.

The Party Central Committee, the National Assembly, the State President, the Government and the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee decided to organize a State-level mourning for Mr. Kiệt.

A 33-member mourning board was established on June 12 and led by Party General Secretary Nông Đức Mạnh.

A mourning service will take place at Thống Nhất Meeting Hall in Hồ Chí Minh City on June 14-15 and a memorial service will be held on June 15. He will be buried and rest in peace at Hồ Chí Minh City Cemetery the same day.

Brief biography

Võ Văn Kiệt (Phan Văn Hòa on his birth certificate and alias Sáu Dân) was born on November 23, 1922 in Trung Hiệp Commune, Vũng Liêm District of the southern province of Vĩnh Long.

He started to join revolutionary activities in 1938 and was admitted to the Communist Party of Indochina in November 1939.

Between 1941 and 1945, Mr. Kiệt took part in revolutionary activities in Rạch Giá Province.

After the French colonialists re-occupied Nam Bộ (Southern Việt Nam), he acted as a political commissar for the revolutionary militia of the southwestern region.

In 1950 he was appointed Deputy Secretary and then Secretary of the Party Committee of Bạc Liêu Province.

In 1955 he was elected as member of the Nam Bộ Party Committee and Deputy Secretary of the Hậu Giang provincial Party Committee.

In 1959, he was appointed Secretary of the Party Committee of Sài Gòn-Gia Định and had kept his post until late 1970.

At the 3^rd Party Congress in 1960, he was elected as an alternate member of the Party Central Committee. He continued to keep the post as Secretary of the Party Committee of Sài Gòn-Gia Định and then Secretary of the Party Committee of the southwestern region.

In 1972, he was elected as an official member of the Party Central Committee.

Between 1973 and 1975, he was sent to work as member of the Standing Board of the Party Central Committee (Southern region). He was appointed a Special Party Secretary of the Sài Gòn Military Management Committee.

In 1976, he was appointed to be Deputy Secretary of the Hồ Chí Minh City Municipal Party Committee and Chairman of the Municipal People’s Committee.

At the 4^th Party Congress in 1976, he was re-elected to the Party Central Committee and the Political Bureau working as an alternate member and then appointed Secretary of the Hồ Chí Minh City Municipal Party Committee.

At the 5^th Party Congress in 1982 and the 6^th Party Congress in 1986, he was re-elected to the Party Central Committee and then the Political Bureau as an official member.

In February 1987, he was elected to the 8^th National Assembly as Chairman of the State Planning Committee, and Standing Vice Chairman and then the First Chairman of the Ministers Council.

At the 7^th Party Congress in 1991, he was re-elected to the Party Central Committee and the Political Bureau.

He was voted as Vice Chairman of the Ministers Council at the first session of the 8^th National Assembly and Chairman of the Ministers Council at the 9^th session of the 8^th National Assembly.

At the 8^th Party Congress in 1996, he was re-elected to the Party Central Committee and the Political Bureau working as member of its Standing Committee.

At the first session of the 9^th National Assembly in 1992, he was elected Prime Minister of Việt Nam, and Vice Chairman of the National Defense and Security Council.

He was appointed as advisor to the Party Central Committee at the 4^th Plenum of the 8^th Party Central Committee in 1997.

Mr. Kiệt was National Assembly deputy in the 6^th, 8^th and 9^th tenures.

In recognition of his contributions to the revolutionary cause of the Party and State, the Party and State awarded him the Star Gold Order and many other orders, medals and a 60-year Party badge.