Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang has been appointed Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council for the new term.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council for the 2021-2026 term, has been appointed by the Party Central Committee to continue in this position for the 2026-2031 term.
On the morning of March 10, at the Party Central Headquarters, General Secretary To Lam chaired a meeting to announce the Politburo's decision to establish the Central Theoretical Council for the 2026-2031 term.
According to the decision of the Party Central Committee Secretariat, the new term of the Central Theoretical Council has 38 members, with Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang as Chairman. The Vice-Chairmen are Mr. Doan Minh Huan, Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy (Permanent); Mr. Le Van Loi, President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences; and Mr. Nguyen Manh Hung, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy (also General Secretary).
The Central Theoretical Council is an agency under the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, tasked with advising the Central Committee, and directly the Politburo and the Secretariat, on political theory issues, serving as a basis for formulating, refining, and developing the Party's guidelines; and for state-level scientific programs, projects, and research topics on political theory, directly supporting the Party's leadership work.
The Council is tasked with directly implementing a number of scientific research programs and projects; advising the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy on research and proposing theoretical arguments for struggle; directly participating in the struggle and refuting erroneous views contrary to the Party's viewpoints, policies, and guidelines; and assisting the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy in maintaining and strengthening research and theoretical exchange relationships with research institutions of communist parties and ruling parties around the world.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang, 69 years old, is from Nghe An province; he was a member of the Politburo of the 13th Party Congress; a member of the Secretariat of the 12th Party Congress; and a member of the Central Committee of the Party for the 11th, 12th, and 13th terms. He holds a Professor and Doctorate in Economics, a Bachelor's degree in Political Economy, and a Bachelor's degree in English.
Beginning his career at the Institute of Economics as a research assistant, he later held positions as Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of World Economic Issues; and Deputy Director of the Institute of World Economics under the National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities.
In 2003, he was appointed Director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics, and later served as Vice President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences and Director of the Institute of Northeast Asian Studies. From early 2011 to 2016, he was President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, now the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.
In April 2016, Professor Nguyen Xuan Thang was appointed Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, and also served as Vice Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council; from March 2018, he became Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council.
During his time at the Academy, he participated in directing numerous theoretical research programs and summarizing practical experiences to serve the drafting of Party Congress documents, developing a theoretical system on the socialist-oriented market economy, and perfecting Vietnam's development model in the new era.
At the 14th Party Congress in January 2026, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thang did not participate in the new Central Committee and relinquished his position as Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy, continuing to serve as Chairman of the Central Theoretical Council until now.
