Nguyen Phu Trong - Biography

Biography

Trọng was born in Đông Hội Commune, Đông Anh District, Hanoi. His official biography gives his family background only as "poor peasant". He studied philology at Vietnam National University, Hanoi from 1963-67. Trọng officially joined the Communist Party in December 1968. He worked for the Tạp chí Cộng Sản (Communist Review), the theoretical and political agency of the Communist Party of Vietnam (formerly the "Labor Party"), in the periods of 1967-73, 1976–80, and 1983-96. From 1991-96, he served as the editor-in-chief of the Tạp chí Cộng Sản. He went to the USSR in 1981 to study at the USSR Academy of Social Sciences and got the Kandidat nauk degree in history in 1983. In 1998, Trọng entered in the party section devoted to political work, and he is one of the most prominent Vietnamese political theoretician heading (2001-06), the CPVCC's Theoretical Council in charge of the Party's theoretical work.

Trọng has been member of the Party's Central Committee since January 1994, member of the Party's Political Bureau since December 1997, and deputy to the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam since May 2002. From January 2000 to June 2006, Trọng was secretary of the Party's Executive Committee of Hanoi, the de facto head of the city authority. On 26 June 2006, Trọng was elected as the Chairman of the National Assembly. During this period he was elected secretary of the Party organization in the Assembly and member of the Council for Defence and Security. A party congress in January 2011 selected Trong as general secretary. This congress also selected a Politburo, or executive committee, and Trong is listed as its No. 8 member.

The 5th plenum of the 11th Central Committee decided to take the Central Steering Committee for Anti-Corruption away from the prime minister’s control, and Nguyễn Phú Trọng was elected its head.