Vietnam's top leader misses meetings amid health concerns

FILE PHOTO: Vietnam's Communist Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong attends a joint statement with U.S. President Joe Biden at the Communist Party of Vietnam Headquarters in Hanoi, Vietnam, September 10, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

(Reuters) - The head of Vietnam's Communist Party Nguyen Phu Trong is expected to miss on Friday the second state visit of a foreign leader to Hanoi in less than a week amid concerns about his health.

Trong, 79, who has been at the helm of the party since 2011, is the most powerful leader in Vietnam's one-party political system and regularly receives visiting foreign dignitaries in private meetings.