Background
Kiệt was born in 1922 into a peasant family in Trung Hiệp village, Vũng Liêm district, Vĩnh Long province in the Mekong Delta in southern Vietnam, then a part of Cochinchina in what was called French Indochina. He was admitted to the Indochinese Communist Party in 1939. He joined the Anti-imperialist Youth Movement and took part in the Nam Kỳ (Cochinchina) insurrection in Vũng Liêm district.
As a member of the communist-led Viet Minh independence movement, Kiệt fought the French in the First Indochina War (1946–1954) in Southern Vietnam and in South Vietnam after 1954, member of Cochinchina Party Committee when division of the country according to the Geneva Accords of 1954. In 1960, he was elected alternate member of the Communist Party Central Committee and became a full member in 1972, member of COSVN in 1961, member of the Standing COSVN in 1973. In 1976, following the reunification of the country, he was appointed Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee, the position of Chairman of the People’s Committee of Hồ Chí Minh City (formerly known as Saigon). Soon after, he was elected alternate member of the Politburo of the CPV and made Secretary of the Party Committee of Hồ Chí Minh City.
Kiệt's first wife and his two children were killed by a bombing by US forces during the Vietnam War.
In 1982, he was promoted to Vice-premiership and became Chairman of the State Planning Commission. In 1987, he was appointed First Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam and became acting Prime Minister from March to June 1988 after the sudden death of Phạm Hùng. In 1991, he is Prime Minister replacing Đỗ Mười who became General Secretary.
He is the Advisor of Party's Central Committee from December 1997 to 2001.
In December 1997, Kiệt had received the Sao Vàng (Gold Star) Order, the State’s highest distinction, for his immense contributions to the Vietnamese revolution.
Read more about this topic: Vo Van Kiet
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