Phan Văn Khải (Vietnamese pronunciation: [faːn˧˧ van˧˧ xaːj˧˩] ^ⓘ; 25 December 1933 – 17 March 2018) was a Vietnamese politician who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Vietnam from 25 September 1997 until his resignation on 27 June 2006. He is considered a technocratic, innovative and benevolent leader.

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Quick Facts 5th Prime Minister of Vietnam, President ...

Phan Văn Khải
5th Prime Minister of Vietnam
In office 24 September 1997 – 27 June 2006
President	Trần Đức Lương
Deputy	Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
Preceded by	Võ Văn Kiệt
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
First Deputy Prime Minister
In office 8 August 1991 – 29 September 1997
Prime Minister	Võ Văn Kiệt
Preceded by	Võ Văn Kiệt
Succeeded by	Nguyễn Tấn Dũng
Personal details
Born	(1933-12-25)25 December 1933 Củ Chi District,[3] Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), Cochinchina
Died	17 March 2018(2018-03-17) (aged 84) Củ Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Political party	Communist Party of Vietnam

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He was born in the countryside of Củ Chi, Ho Chi Minh City, in a family with a tradition of patriotism and fighting foreign invaders. Khải had a patriotic heart from a very early age and worked through two wars against France and the United States. Phan Văn Khải took office as Prime Minister on 25 September 1997. Following the path of his predecessor Võ Văn Kiệt, Khải promoted extensive international integration and led Vietnam to overcome the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis. He is a technocratic leader with more expertise in economic management and is more open-minded than his predecessors and supports Vietnam's accession to the WTO. Due to failure to resolve the corruption situation, on 27 June 2006, Khải, together with President Trần Đức Lương and Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyễn Văn An, Voluntarily submitted a resignation letter before finishing their term.

Phan Văn Khải was born on 25 December 1933 in Tan Thong Hoi Commune Củ Chi District, Saigon^[3] in French Indochina. Already during his youth he worked in revolutionary organizations. After the end of the first Indochina War and the subsequent partition of the country, Pham Van Khai took the opportunity to emigrate to North Vietnam.^[4]

Phan Văn Khải joined the revolution in 1947 and became member of the Communist Party of Vietnam on 15 July 1959.^[5]

From 1954 to 1959, he studied and worked on land reform in North Vietnam, he then studied languages, at the University of Economics in Moscow Soviet Union, until 1965.

After the war Phan Văn Khải was temporarily mayor of Ho Chi Minh City. From September 24, 1997 to June 24, 2006, he served as Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. He became the first Prime Minister of Vietnam to visit United States, meeting with President George W. Bush. On June 24, 2006, he announced his resignation, along with President Trần Đức Lương.

In the period from 15 December 1998 to 5 November 2001 he also served as chairman of ASEAN.

Phan Văn Khải was considered as a moderate reformer who acted in support of the country's economic opening within the political range of Vietnam.^[4][6] He died on 17 March 2018 at his home in Ho Chi Minh City.^[7]

His wife was Nguyễn Thị Sáu, former deputy director of Ho Chi Minh City's Planning and Investment Department. She died in 2012. According to the media, he has a son, Phan Minh Hoan,^[8] and a daughter, Phan Thi Bach Yen.^[9][10]

•  Japan:
  • Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun (November 2006)^[11]