HCMC chairman to take on new position

The Communist Party's decision making body, the Politburo, named Phong, 59, deputy head of the Central Economic Commission on Friday, the Communist Party of Vietnam online newspaper said.

The assignment means he will stop serving as HCMC chairman and deputy secretary of the city Party Committee, it said.

A native of Ben Tre Province in the Mekong Delta, Phong had served as deputy secretary of the city Party Committee from March 2015. He was voted as People's Committee chairman for 2016-21 in October 2015, while holding the Party position.

He was recently reelected as chairman for the 2021-26 term.

Phong is also head of the Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control in HCMC, the epicenter of the latest wave to hit Vietnam, and it is not clear who will replace him.

The city of 13 million has recorded nearly 176,000 Covid cases and 6,538 deaths in the new wave.