Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh passes away

Le Van Thanh, a Party Central Committee member and Deputy Prime Minister, died at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday at his home in Hai Phong city.

Le Van Thanh, a Party Central Committee member and Deputy Prime Minister, died at 8:20 p.m. Tuesday at his home in Hai Phong city.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh. Photo courtesy of the government's portal.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh passed away after a period of serious illness, according to the Central Committee on Health Care for Senior Governmental Officials. 

The memorial and burial ceremonies for the leader will be announced later.

Thanh, 61, is from Vinh Bao district, Hai Phong - a port city in northern Vietnam, and has a master's degree in economic management.

He is a member of the 12th and 13th Party Central Committee, and a member of the 12th National Assembly.

Thanh used to be director of Hai Phong Cement Company, then Vice Chairman of the city People's Committee, Deputy Secretary of the municipal Party Committee, Chairman of the city People's Committee, Secretary of the city Party Committee, and Chairman of the city People's Council.

At the 13th Party Congress in early 2021, Thanh was re-elected as a Party Central Committee member. More than three months later, he was approved by the National Assembly as Deputy Prime Minister.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh was assigned to monitor industry; agriculture and rural development; trade, import and export; construction; transportation; natural resources and environment; national master planning, regional planning, provincial planning; energy security, economical and efficient use of energy.

He was also in charge of national key projects; capital construction investment projects as decentralized by law; economic zones, industrial parks, export processing zones; flood and storm prevention, search and rescue; strategy to respond to climate change.

Thanh monitors and directs the ministries of Agriculture and Rural Development, Industry and Trade, Construction, Transport, and Natural Resources and Environment.

The most recent activity of Thanh was attending a meeting of the State Steering Committee for important national transport projects at the Government headquarters on November 16, 2022. Since then, he did not appear in public.