Vietnam's rubber-stamp assembly re-elects Quang as president

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) - Tran Dai Quang was sworn in as Vietnam's president for the second time in four months after being re-elected Monday by the country's rubber-stamp National Assembly.

Quang, who was first elected president in early April by the outgoing assembly, won 485 votes from the 494 deputies of the Communist Party-dominated assembly, the government said on its website.

Vietnam's top leaders include the Communist Party chief, the president and the prime minister, though the position of president is more ceremonial than the other two.

In his acceptance speech Monday, which was broadcast live on state television, Quang pledged to "speed up the reform process in a comprehensive and synchronized manner, engage in proactive integration, build a growing strong and prosperous nation and heighten Vietnam's position in the international arena."

Vietnam launched the reforms in the mid-1980s, switching from a central command economy to a market economy. This transformed a poor country that had just emerged from long wars against the French and then the Americans into one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.

Quang, who was the minister of public security before becoming president, also vowed to "firmly defend the sacred national independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity" and to "maintain political and social stability and create a peaceful environment for national construction."

The National Assembly deputies, who were elected in general elections in May, are scheduled to reappoint Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc on Tuesday.