His appointment was decided by the Party Politburo and announced on Friday by the Party's Central Organizing Commission.

City Party secretary Vuong Dinh Hue congratulated Anh on his new appointment and expressed confidence that with his experience as a scientist and manager at both ministry and local levels, he would quickly start working to fulfill the city's socio-economic goals, especially the short-term goal of defeating the Covid-19 pandemic.

In his acceptance speech, Anh called his new position both a great honor and major responsibility.

"I have to put myself in the collective, the organization, always striving to improve, learn, unite with the collective of the city Party Committee to focus our minds on building a clean and strong municipal Party unit and ignite the creative, enthusiastic and efficient working spirit of all cadres, civil servants and the people."

He emphasized that he would strive to mobilize all resources, promote the will of the Party unit and the people for comprehensive and sustainable socio-economic development of the capital.

Pham Minh Chinh, head of the Central Organizing Commission, said in every position he had held before, Anh had made great efforts to overcome difficulties and accomplish his missions.

Anh is expected to be relieved of his position as minister at the upcoming National Assembly session in late October.

Anh, 55, hails from Hanoi's rural district of Ba Vi. He has a doctorate, was an alternate member of the Party's 11th Central Committee and is a member of the 12th Central Committee.

He used to work at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology, the Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology and the State Agency for Technology Innovation.

He served as chairman of the northern province of Phu Tho and deputy minister of science and technology before becoming a minister in April 2016.

Commercial promotion of research outcomes was a focus during his stint as minister.

In the last five years technology has contributed greatly to Vietnam's socio-economic development, demonstrated by improvements in the quality of growth and exports of technology products accounting for nearly half of Vietnam's exports.

In the 2020 Global Innovation Index, Vietnam climbed from 59th to 42nd out of 131 economies, and was ranked first in the group of 29 lower-middle income economies.

The government now considers innovation as a new pillar in socio-economic development, and for the first time the innovation index has become an indicator to measure the efficiency of the business environment and national competitiveness annually.

"Innovation must become a new way of thinking in managing, operating the economy, society and businesses," Anh said at a recent congress of the ministry's Party Committee.

The leadership of the city Party Committee currently includes Vuong Dinh Hue and deputy secretaries Ngo Thi Thanh Hang, Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc (also chairwoman of the city People's Council), Dao Duc Toan, and now Anh.

The position of chairman is still vacant after Nguyen Duc Chung was suspended from all leadership positions and arrested for his involvement in several criminal cases last month.