Prime Minister of Vietnam
The games was held from 5 to 13 December 2003 although several events had commenced from 29 November 2003. Around 5000 athletes from 11 participating nations participated at the games, which featured 442 events in 32 sports. Vietnam is the eighth nation to host the Southeast Asian Games after Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines and Brunei. The games was opened by Phan Văn Khải, the Prime Minister of Vietnam at the newly constructed Mỹ Đình National Stadium and was closed by Pham Gia Khiem, the Deputy Prime Minister of Vietnam.