Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh passed away at the age of 61 at his house in northern Hai Phong City at 8:20 pm on Tuesday after a period of illness, according to the Central Committee on Health Care for Senior Governmental Officials.

Thanh, a native of Vinh Bao District in Hai Phong City, was a member of the 12th and 13th Communist Party Central Committee.

He held the post of director of the Hai Phong Cement Company before serving as vice-chairman of the Hai Phong People’s Committee, deputy secretary of the municipal Party Committee, and then chairman of the municipal People’s Committee.

He later became secretary of the Hai Phong Party Committee in October 2015 and was appointed deputy prime minister in April 2021.

Deputy PM Thanh was in charge of managing industry, agriculture and rural development, trade, construction, transport, natural resources, and environment sectors.

He also took responsibility for the effective and sparing use of energy; key national projects; economic, industrial and export processing zones; the response to storms; as well as search and rescue work.

Deputy PM Thanh helped the prime minister supervise the operation of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Thanh was mostly absent from the activities for the government and meetings of sectors since the end of last year.

The government leader assigned his jobs to other deputy prime ministers under a decision issued on January 15, after two new deputy PMs—Tran Hong Ha and Tran Luu Quang—were named.

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