HO CHI MINH CITY, Aug. 24 (Xinhua) -- Legislators of southern Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) on Tuesday elected Phan Van Mai as the new chairman of the municipal People's Committee for the 2021-2026 period, replacing Nguyen Thanh Phong, Vietnam News Agency reported.
Mai, 48, won the election with an approval rate of 97.75 percent at a meeting held by the committee.
Presenting his action plan, Mai said that he "would be proactive, creative, bold and responsible in leading the implementation of tasks, persistently striving for the interests of the people and the city's development."
He pledged to take strong measures on COVID-19 prevention and control with the focus on treatment, reducing mortality and taking better care of people's lives, especially the poor and disadvantaged, as well as to carry out a suitable socio-economic development plan to adapt to prolonged and complicated epidemic conditions.
Mai was previously appointed by the Political Bureau of the 13th Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC) as permanent deputy secretary of the HCMC Municipal Party Committee in June.
Also at the meeting on Tuesday, the municipal People's Committee of HCMC relieved Nguyen Thanh Phong, 59, from his post. Phong was recently appointed deputy head of the Commission for Economic Affairs of the CPVCC by the Political Bureau of the CPVCC.
HCMC is currently the COVID-19 epicenter in Vietnam with over 180,200 infections and 7,000 deaths registered since the start of the current wave in late April, according to Vietnam's Ministry of Health. Enditem
