Lao leader’s Vietnam visit to enhance mutual trust

President of Laos Bounnhang Volachith (Photo: VNA)

The visit, which is made at the invitation of Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong and President Tran Dai Quang, is the first overseas trip by Bounnhang Volachith as Lao Party General Secretary and President for 2016-2020.

It aims to affirm the solidarity and mutual trust between the Vietnamese Party, State and people and their Lao counterparts, as well as Vietnam’s strong and comprehensive support for the reform process as well as national defence and construction in the neighbouring country.

During the visit, the two sides are due to discuss measures to accelerate the implementation of high-level agreements reached by the two Parties and States.

The Vietnam-Laos relations have been thriving in all fields. Politically, the two countries have coordinated with each other in organising visits and meetings between Party and State leaders, as well as experience exchanges between ministries, agencies and localities.

Apart from three theoretical conferences between the two Parties, they have joined hands in marking major celebrations of the two countries.

In the sphere of national defence, security and diplomacy, joint efforts have been channeled to actualising protocols between the two Defence and Public Security Ministries, and an agreement in border management.

They have completed a project on increasing and upgrading border markers, and inked a protocol on the borderline and national border markers and an agreement on land border and border gate management regulations.

The two sides have teamed up with each other to search and repatriate remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who laid down their lives in Laos during the war.

They successfully co-organised the eight Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Development Triangle Summit in 2014 and have actively exchanged information and closely coordinated with each other at regional and international forums.

In the field of economy, trade and investment, the two sides have effectively realised a cooperation agreement between the two Governments and signed a new bilateral trade agreement and another in border trade.

The “one stop shop” mechanism has been applied at the Lao Bao-Densavanh international border gate as part of their cooperation.

Besides this, Vietnam’s investment in Laos has seen rosy signs with a total of 258 projects worth a combined capital of nearly US$5 billion to date, according to the Vietnam Ministry of Planning an Investment.

Of which, there have been 15 hydropower projects with a total capacity of over 3000 KW, 57 projects in minerals and 18 in rubber and industrial tree plantation.

Over the past years, the two sides have paid specialheed to improving the quality and efficiency of their affiliation in education-training and human resources development.

Currently, nearly 9,300 Lao officials and students are studying in Vietnam while 425 Vietnamese students are learning in the neighbouring country.

Bilateral collaboration in transport, science-technology, social affairs, agriculture, communication, employment, culture and tourism have also received due attention of the two sides.

Of note, links between the two countries’ ministries, agencies and localities have been tightened, spanning the realms of infrastructure development, health care and personnel training.