Vietnam Prime Minister Khai says he is retiring

HANOI, May 16 (Reuters) Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, the first Vietnam premier to have visited the United States since the end of the Vietnam war in 1975, said today he was retiring.

Khai, 72, has served two consecutive five-year terms in communist-run Vietnam's top government post and he nominated one of three deputy prime ministers, 56-year-old Nguyen Tan Dung, to succeed him.

''I have asked to retire, we should let the younger generation lead,'' Khai told reporters before the opening of the National Assembly, or parliament, which was expected to approve several top leadership positions during its May 16 to June 29 session.

The assembly would receive his retirement request and nomination of a new prime minister, said Khai, who has held the post during a decade of unprecedented economic growth and development of foreign relations.

''We want to be friends with all countries and we want to be their reliable partner,'' Khai told reporters.

Dung, a career security officer and advocate of market reforms in one of the last communist-ruled countries in the world, is generally considered representative of young leaders.

''I have nominated my deputy, who has worked with me for eight years and was trained for this job,'' said a relaxed-looking Khai.

Asked if it was Nguyen Tan Dung, the prime minister said, ''should be him''.

Last month, the five-yearly Communist Party National Congress chose General Secretary Nong Duc Manh, 65, to serve a second five-year term. The post is the highest-ranking political job in Vietnam.

Apart from naming a new prime minister, the legislature session that opened today was also expected to name a new president and new chairman of the National Assembly.

REUTERS SI BST1025