Vietnam Adds U.S.-Educated Official to Party’s Politburo

Vietnam’s Communist Party added a U.S.-educated official who studied on a Fulbright scholarship to its highest decision-making body in an unprecedented move as the nation seeks to revive investor confidence.

Nguyen Thien Nhan, 59, a deputy prime minister who got a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Oregon, was picked at a party meeting to join the Politburo, the Communist Party said in a statement May 11. Nhan was vice-chairman of Ho Chi Minh City’s main governing body when Intel Corp. decided to locate a $1 billion plant in the city.