Dated, sourced news from Phu Quoc island
News · Administration changes
Administration changes: a special zone of An Giang
In mid-2025 Vietnam reduced its provinces to 34 and created special zones for its main islands. Phu Quoc stopped being a city of Kien Giang and became a special zone of An Giang. This brief sets out the decisions in order, with dates, and explains what the change means for visitors reading official notices.
The decisions in order
A new An Giang, centred in Rach Gia
15 April 2025. Government News reported the approved plan for 34 provinces and centrally run cities. An Giang and Kien Giang were to merge into a province called An Giang, with a natural area of 9,888.9 km² and a population of 3,697,200, its political and administrative centre in the then Rach Gia city.
Sources: Government News (baochinhphu.vn) — names and administrative centres of the 34 provinces (15 April 2025) · last checked .
The resolutions
12 and 16 June 2025. According to the An Giang provincial portal, National Assembly Resolution 202/2025/QH15 of 12 June 2025 merged the area and population of Kien Giang and An Giang into one province, An Giang. Resolution 1654/NQ-UBTVQH15 of the National Assembly Standing Committee, dated 16 June 2025, established 102 communes, wards and special zone units in the province. The portal gives the area as more than 9,888 km² and the population as nearly 5 million, a different population figure from the April plan.
Sources: An Giang Provincial E-Portal — resolutions on the new An Giang province announced · last checked .
Announcement in Rach Gia
30 June 2025. The resolutions were announced at the Cultural and Artistic Center of Kien Giang province. Nguyen Tien Hai became Secretary of the provincial Party Committee and Ho Van Mung Chairman of the provincial People's Committee.
Sources: An Giang Provincial E-Portal — resolutions on the new An Giang province announced · last checked .
Phu Quoc special zone in force from 1 July
4 July 2025. Nông nghiệp và Môi trường reported that Phu Quoc became a special zone on 1 July 2025, covering 589 km² and taking in the former Duong Dong and An Thoi wards and the communes of Duong To, Ham Ninh, Cua Duong, Bai Thom, Ganh Dau and Cua Can, all formerly part of Phu Quoc city. The zone has its own powers over investment, finance, administration and land. On 2 July its People's Council renamed 29 hamlets as neighbourhoods.
Sources: Nông nghiệp và Môi trường, English edition — Phu Quoc becomes a special zone (4 July 2025) · last checked .
First Party congress of the special zone
11 August 2025. The An Giang portal reported the closing of the first congress of the Phu Quoc special zone Party Committee for 2025–2030. Le Quoc Anh is the special zone's Party Secretary; Tran Minh Khoa and Dang Thi Hong Gam are deputy secretaries. Provincial leaders asked the zone to study a management model so that it can become a special administrative unit in the full sense. Phu Quoc had been recognised as a class I urban area in early 2025.
Sources: An Giang Provincial E-Portal — first congress of the Phu Quoc special zone Party Committee · last checked .
What a special zone is
A special zone is an island administrative unit under a province or centrally run city. Under Resolution 203/2025/QH15, effective 1 July 2025, special administrative-economic units are established by the National Assembly. Vietnam had 13 special zones as of that date, and Phu Quoc was the only former city among them.
For Phu Quoc the practical effect is that there is no longer a city with wards beneath it: the special zone is the local government, with its People's Council and People's Committee, under An Giang province. Tran Minh Khoa is Chairman of the special zone People's Committee, the title used in reports in April and July 2026.
Sources: Wikipedia — Special zone (Vietnam); Wikipedia — Phú Quốc; Tiền Phong — special zone chairman: the night market will not be scrapped (1 April 2026); Viet Nam News — Phú Quốc strengthens global tourism appeal ahead of APEC 2027 (8 July 2026) · last checked .
The island in figures
Sources: Wikipedia — Phú Quốc; Nông nghiệp và Môi trường, English edition — Phu Quoc becomes a special zone (4 July 2025); Government News (baochinhphu.vn) — names and administrative centres of the 34 provinces (15 April 2025) · last checked .
What changes for visitors
- Official notices about the island, from fees to boat permits, now come from the Phu Quoc special zone or from An Giang province. Older documents and many signs still say Kien Giang.
- Addresses written before mid-2025 may name wards and communes that no longer exist as separate units.
- Maritime notices for the island are still issued under the name of the Kien Giang Maritime Port Authority, as in August 2026.
- Visa rules are set nationally; see the entry rules brief.
Still unconfirmed
- Whether the island's 30-day visa exemption has been restated in a text that names the special zone.
- The final management model for the special zone that provincial leaders asked it to study in August 2025.
Common questions
Questions readers ask
Which province is Phu Quoc in?
An Giang. Kien Giang, its former province, was merged into An Giang under a National Assembly resolution of 12 June 2025.
Is Phu Quoc still a city?
No. Since 1 July 2025 it has been a special zone, the only former city among Vietnam's 13 special zones.
Who leads the special zone?
Le Quoc Anh is Party Secretary, and Tran Minh Khoa is Chairman of the special zone People's Committee, according to reports from 2025 and 2026.
Related
Read next
News · Visas and entry rules
Visas and entry rules
The island exemption, the e-visa and the national waiver lists, with their legal texts and dates.
Areas · Duong Dong
Duong Dong
News for Duong Dong: administration, the night market, water supply and transport.
Areas · Ganh Dau and the north
Ganh Dau and the north
News for the north: the national park, Ganh Dau and Bai Thom, the Cua Can reservoir.
News
News
All six news desks and a full timeline of dated items from Phu Quoc.
News · Openings and closures
Openings and closures
The night market, new operators at the airport and port, the response team for tourists, and what opens next.
Start planning
Send the editors a correction or a tip
Say which story you mean, what you found and when. A link to an official notice or a photo of a ticket or sign helps us check it.