Vietnam, Laos seek ways to ensure legal rights for people in border region

Vietnamese Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long

The conference highly appreciated the combined efforts by the Ministries of Justice, Departments of Justice and civil law enforcement agencies of the two countries in dealing with judicial tasks in their localities.

Since the last judicial conference, the management of household registers and citizenship-related issues in the provinces along the shared border has been intensified, yielding good results.

The two sides have been working closely to realize the 2013 Vietnam-Laos agreement in resolving free migration and undocumented marriages in their shared border areas. They have made a great deal of efforts in the enforcement of civil judgments under a bilateral treaty on mutual legal assistance signed in July 1998.

The two ministries will propose a roadmap for revising and amending the mutual legal assistance treaty, adapting it to real circumstances for more effective cooperation in civil judgment enforcement.
They consented to continue stepping legal dissemination and education and raising public awareness of legal aids and reconciliation at a local level.

The ministries and their training institutions will enhance their partnership in capacity building for Lao judicial personnel, as part of a Vietnam-funded project to support the Lao judicial academy.

Addressing the conference, the two ministers expressed their belief that the important results achieved at this event will help further cultivate the time-tested friendship and comprehensive partnership between Vietnamese and Lao judiciary sectors and maintain good relations between the two nations for peace, stability, development, and prosperity of Southeast Asia and Asia.

After the event, a number of agreements between the Departments of Justice were signed between the two sides and they also agreed to hold the fifth judicial conference between provinces along their shared border in Vietnam next year.