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Thongloun Sisoulith

The national assembly of Laos has elected former prime minister Thongloun Sisoulith as the country's new president. The 75-year-old Thongloun was sworn in on 22 March 2021. The Lao People’s Democratic Republic has been under one-party rule by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) for decades. At the party congress in January 2021, Thongloun was elected secretary general, the body's top post. After Bounnhang Vorachith stepped down, Thongloun replaced him at the top of the Party and government because as prime minister he was considered highly experienced. Sisoulith was the best person to lead the party because he is well known internationally and has had achievements against corruption in his five years as prime minister.

Throughout his years in government he has an extensive list of appointments. He was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1992, Minister of Labour and Social Welfare from 1993 to 1997, and a member of the National Assembly from 1998 to 2000, and chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the National Assembl. He became Deputy Prime Minister and President of the State Planning Committee on March 27, 2001, and he was additionally appointed as Foreign Minister on June 8, 2006, replacing Somsavat Lengsavad. From 2006 to early 2016, he served as Lao deputy prime minister and foreign minister. He was elected prime minister in April 2016.

Thongloun faced challenges such as rebuilding the country's economy, which has been sluggish due to the global spread of the coronavirus. He would also have to repay the country's debts to China, which have ballooned due to railway construction. Thongloun Sisoulith will have to navigate needing China to achieve national development goals while avoiding the debt trap, while also maintaining ties with Vietnam, which is in a diplomatic spat with Beijing over territorial claims in the South China Sea. His personal name is “Thongloun” and his family name is “Sisoulith”. In Lao naming conventions, the first name is followed by the surname. Lao customarily refer to people in formal situations by their first name, plus titles and honorifics, alone.

Laos’ ruling Communist Party on 15 January 2021 promoted Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith to the office of secretary general, replacing retiring party leader Bounnhang Vorachit, state media said as the party finished its three-day congress. The election of Sisoulith and other major LPRP leaders preceded elections for the National Assembly and the Provincial and Capital People’s Councils, scheduled for 21 February 2021.

The Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) elected the Soviet-trained Sisoulith, 75, a senior official who has represented his country on the international stage as foreign minister, to a five-year term as the leader of the Central Committee—setting the stage for his appointment as president. Sisoulith emerged at the top of a list of 71 members of the Central Committee’s Secretariat, while incumbent LPRP chief and Lao President Bounnhang Vorachith was left off the list, retiring at age 83. The congress additionally chose 13 members of the Politburo, the party’s top political body.

Sisoulith’s leadership faced immediate challenges as landlocked Laos is in danger of defaulting on its debt, as the coronavirus and its global effects have brought the country’s U.S. $18 billion economy to its knees. In a speech to the congress in Vientiane prior to the election, Sisoulith took aim at poor financial management, debt and murky business practices in the landlocked country of 7.2 million people that has known only LRPR rule since 1975. “During the last five years, the debt has not been successfully tackled. Our financial management has failed. The stability of our currency has been delicate and our foreign currency reserves have been lower than planned,” he told the congress.

After assuming the presidency in March 2021, Thongloun vowed to actively work with the LPRP, the state leaders and the Lao people to create favorable conditions for stability, national economic growth and poverty reduction in the country. He also promised to respect the constitution and the laws as well as to protect the legitimate interests of the Lao people. The inauguration session held in Lao capital Vientiane also elected Phankham Viphavanh, a member of the Political Bureau of the LPRP Central Committee, as prime minister of Laos.

Thongloun Sisoulith was born on November 10, 1945, in Houaphanh Province, Laos. From 1962 to 1969, he studied at the Pedagogical College of Neo Lao Hak Sat (Lao Patriotic Front), Houaphanh Province. A protege of the revolutionary theorist Phoumi Vongvichit, Thongloun trained as a teacher upon joining the revolution. From 1973 to 1978, he studied Master of Linguistics and Literature at the Gerzen Pedagogy Institute in Saint Petersburg, Soviet Union. From 1981 to 1984, he studied his PhD in the History of International Relations at the Academy of Social Sciences, Moscow, former Soviet Union.

From 1967 to 1969, he was a senior officer at the Educational Department of the Neo Lao Hak Sat in Houaphanh Province. He was a senior officer at the Office of the Representative of the Neo Lao Hak Sat in Hanoi from 1969-1973 and a lecturer at Vientiane University from 1978 to 1979. Thongloun Sisoulith assumed the position of Secretary to Minister of Education, Director of the External Relations Division under the Lao Ministry of Education from 1979-1981. He was the Director of Public Research Department at the PM’s Office from 1985-1986 and the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1992.

From 1993 to 1996, he was the Minster of Labour and Social Welfare. He held the position of member of the Standing Committee of the Lao National Assembly (NA), Chairman of the NA’s Foreign Affairs Committee from 1997 to 2001. From 2001 to 2006, he was a Politburo member and Deputy Prime Minister; President of the Committee for Planning and Investment; President of Investment Management Committee; President of the Lao National Committee for Energy; and Lao NA Deputy.

In its inaugural session 08 June 2006, the newly-elected National Assembly selected a new President, Vice President and Prime Minister and approved the Prime Minister's cabinet. Most significantly, Politburo member Thongloun Sisoulith took over as the Foreign Minister from long-time FM Somsavat Lengsavad, who moved to the Prime Minister's Office. Several other relatively young, perhaps more flexible, Central Committee members also moved up. This being Laos, the new cabinet is no "dream team," but the transfusion of new blood can't help but improve the government's normally lackluster performance. The US Embassy hoped the rise of moderates like Sisoulith would help the U.S.-Lao relationship.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith chaired the first ever National Conference on Cooperation between the Government of Laos (GOL) and international NGOs (INGOs) in Vientiane 5-6 February 2009. More than 160 INGOs are currently active in Laos according to MFA data -- including 34 from the United States. INGOs provide approximately USD 35 million in desperately needed development assistance to Laos annually. The meeting focus was on proposed revision to the 1998 Prime Minister's Decree 71 on the Administration of NGOs in Laos.

During US Senator Jim Webb's 12-14 August 2009 visit to Vientiane, Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith applauded improved U.S.-Lao relations and praised the USG,s renewed focus on Southeast Asia. He reported that he had discussed with Secretary Clinton in Phuket ways to further enhance relations. He pointed to the 2008 exchange of Defense Attaches and cooperation in drug control, UXO clearance, and the search for MIA soldiers as solid achievements. In that context, DPM Sisoulith stressed Laos' need for increased UXO clearance resources. He also made a point of reiterating GOL interest in raising the level of the U.S.-Lao comprehensive bilateral dialogue (CBD).

According to a joint statement issued after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with Thongloun Sisoulith, the Laotian Foreign Minister, in Washington in July 2010, growing co-operation is "producing mutual benefits and a constructive relationship contributing topeace, stability and cooperation for development in the region and the world".

Laos is ruled by its only constitutionally legitimate party, the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. The LPRP selected new leaders through an opaque process at a party congress in 2016. After that year’s tightly controlled National Assembly election, lawmakers chose Bounnhang Vorachith to serve as president, and Thongloun Sisoulith to serve as primeminister. The most recentNational Assembly election held in 2016 was not free and fair. The LPRP selected all candidates, and voting is mandatory for all citizens. Following the election the National Assembly approved Thongloun Sisoulith to be prime minister.

In August 2016, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith issued a new regulation: Decree 315 on the Management and Protection of Religious Activities. It remained unclear how the new decree would affect religious groups. Decree 315 replaced Decree 92 on Religious Practice, which has provided the legalbasis for regulating and managing religion since 2002. Critics noted Decree 92’s onerous approval processes and unclear requirements, which officials at the local, district, and provincial levels often implemented to the disadvantage of religious organizations.

As Prime Minister, Thongloun Sisoulith initiated some anticorruption drives since taking office in 2016. After taking office, he empowered the State Audit Organization (SAO) to conduct financial and budget investigations. The office uncovered several instances of misappropriated state funds and unreported expenditures, and some LPRP officials apparently returned money that they stole to the national treasury. The State Inspection Authority (SIA) reported in 2017 that 71 officials had been investigated for corruption the previous year. In February 2017, the government publicly auctioned off luxury cars that had previously been used by top officials. Additionally, the prime minister targeted drug traffickers in an effort to combat corruption and crime, and a few key drug traffickers were arrested. The prime minister also placed a ban on export timber in 2016, in an effort to crack down on illegal logging and the extensive deforestation of the country. Despite the ban, government officials continue to be linked to the illegal smuggling of timber.

Thongloun’s efforts have failed to ignite institutional change. Laos languishes at 137th place in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions index for 2018, 10 places behind its 2016 standing. In 2017, the country lost an estimated US$50 million to corruption, three times the amount lost in 2016.

In addition to Lao, Thongloun Sisoulith speaks Vietnamese, Russian and English. Marital status, parent's names and class origins, early party activity and other such biographical data is not available.