Former Secretary of the Party Central Committee and former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan passed away after a period of illness at 7:05 am on June 21 at the 108 Military Central Hospital in Hanoi, according to the Central Committee on Health Care for Senior Governmental Officials.

The memorial services and burial ceremony for the former official will be announced later.

Vu Khoan was born on October 7, 1937 in Phu Xuyen district, Hanoi.

He was a member of the Party Central Committee in the 7th, 8th, and 9th tenures, Secretary of the Party Central Committee in the 9th term, deputy of the National Assembly in the 11th tenure, and Deputy Prime Minister from August 2002 to June 2006.

During his political career, he also held various positions, including Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (1990), Minister of Trade (2000), Deputy Prime Minister in charge of foreign economic relations and Chairman of the National Committee on the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation – APEC (2002).

He retired in 2007.

Vu Khoan was honoured with many noble titles by the Vietnamese Party, State and Government, including the first-class Independence Order, first-class Labour Order, and 60 Years Party Membership Badge.

He was also awarded the Soviet Union’s Order of Friendship of Peoples, Laos’ first-class Freedom Order, and Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun./.