Vũ Mão. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Vũ Mão, a former high-ranking official who made many contributions to the Vietnamese National Assembly, died early Saturday morning at the age of 81.

According to an announcement on Sunday from the Party Central Committee, National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee, the NA’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the NA Office, Mão died at 1:39am on Saturday after a long battle with illness at his residence in Hà Nội.

A funeral will be held according to the High-Level Funeral Ceremony, presided over by the NA Standing Committee from 7 am to 10:45 am on Wednesday at the National Funeral Hall at 5 Trần Thánh Tông Street in Hà Nội.

A memorial ceremony will be held at 10:45 am. He will be buried at Thiên Đức Cemetery in Phù Ninh District, Phú Thọ Province.

Mão began his revolutionary career in 1950 and became a member of the Party on April 27, 1962.

He was a member of the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th Party Central Committee sessions, a member of the 9th, 10th, 11th NA Standing Committees, and a deputy of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th National Assemblies.

He previously held the positions of Chairman of the NA Foreign Affairs Committee, Chairman of the NA Office, Chairman of the NA Office and the State Council, and Chairman of the NA's Youth, Adolescents and Children Committee. He was also First Secretary of the Central Committee of Hồ Chí Minh Communist Youth Union.

For his contributions, Mão was presented the Order of 55-year Communist Party Member, First-Class Independence Order, Third-class Order on the struggle during the American War, and First-Class Merit Order. He also received the General Order of the Kingdom of Cambodia, First-class Issara Order of Laos and the Sunrise Medal of the Japanese King. — VNS