Who is he?
Nguyen Sinh Hung is commonly considered the fourth highest-ranking official in the politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). He serves as chairman of the National Assembly, Vietnam’s legislative body. Born in 1954, he hails from the northern Nghe An Province, home to Vietnam’s founding father Ho Chi Minh.
Hung previously served as finance minister from 1996 to 2006, before being appointed deputy prime minister from 2006 to 2011. As chairman of the National Assembly, Hung presides over a body whose members have become increasingly assertive in national policy issues.
Nguyen Sinh Hung. Source: Wikimedia user Michał Józefaciuk, used under a creative commons license.
Why is he in the news?
Hung is visiting the United States from August 31 to September 9 in an effort to deepen U.S.-Vietnam legislative ties. His visit is the first by a chairman of the National Assembly to the United States and follows the first visit of a Vietnamese Communist Party chief to the United States in July. He is expected to meet with senior U.S. lawmakers and administration officials, as well as representatives of the Vietnamese diaspora.
What can we expect from him?
The year 2015 is pivotal for U.S.-Vietnam relations, as the two countries celebrate the 20th anniversary of the normalization of relations and are expected to take bilateral ties to the next level. Hung’s meetings with members of Congress are also an opportunity to address any remaining differences in bilateral trade, especially U.S. market access for Vietnamese goods and Vietnam’s labor environment, as the two countries prepare to finalize talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
