Singapore PM gets his first younger deputy

Singapore's Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean speaks during a plenary session at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Shangri-La Dialogue security conference in Singapore in this June 1, 2008 file photo.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore named Defence Minister Teo Chee Hean as deputy prime minister on Thursday, handing 57-year-old Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong his first younger number two.

Teo, 54, will retain his defence portfolio and will also take on the deputy's role from April 1, the prime minister's office said in a statement. Singapore has two deputy prime ministers but Teo will be acting prime minister in Lee's absence.

Wong Kan Seng remains as a deputy premier while S Jayakumar, 69, Singapore's other deputy prime minister, will step aside to become senior minister.

"These changes are part of continuing leadership renewal and testing out of younger office holders for broader responsibilities," the government said in the statement.

Singapore will also have its first female cabinet minister when Lim Hwee Hua, 50, currently the junior minister for finance and transport, becomes minister in the Prime Minister's Office as well as Second Minister for Finance and Transport.

The People's Action Party has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965.