Nong Duc Manh

Nong Duc Manh , 1940-, Vietnamese political leader. A member of the Tay minority and a forestry worker, Manh joined the Communist party in 1963 and studied forestry in Hanoi (1958-61) and Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg, 1966-71). In the early 1970s he headed the Bac Kan prov. forestry service and concurrently began his rise in the party, studying in its school (1974-76) and holding provincial party offices (1976-89). He became a member of the national party's central committee in 1989 and chairman of Vietnam's National Assembly in 1992. In 2001 he became general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist party. Relatively moderate, Manh has advocated doi moi, the process of reform leading to economic growth, and has pledged to fight corruption and speed economic liberalization. He also is an unswerving party loyalist adamantly opposed to political dissent.