Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, who worked to deepen his country's ties with the United States, its one-time foe, died of an illness on Friday, state media said. He was 61.

Quang became Vietnam's president in April 2016 and was effectively the country's No. 2 man after Communist Party leader Nguyen Phu Trong.

Given that the Southeast Asian country is run collectively by the party's leadership, the political and diplomatic impact of Quang's death is thought to be relatively small.

In May 2016, against the background of overlapping claims with China in the South China Sea, Quang held talks with then U.S. President Barack Obama in Hanoi.

Obama announced that the United States would "fully" lift a ban on arms sales to Vietnam, marking a significant step in the warming of ties between the two countries.

Quang was born in the northern province of Ninh Binh on Oct. 12, 1956. After joining what is now the Public Security Ministry in 1975, he rose through the ranks, eventually serving as public security minister before becoming president.