Vietnam gives top priority to relationship with Laos: PM

Vietnam always gives top priority to its special relationship with Laos, considering it as an invaluable asset in need of being preserved and developed, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Lao President Bounnhang Volachith

He met with General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and President Bounnhang Volachith on the side lines of the 28th and 29th ASEAN Summits on September 6.

The PM pledged that he will instruct ministries, agencies and localities to continue realising high-level agreements between the two countries, including the joint statement issued during the official visit to Vietnam by the Lao Party General Secretary and President in April 2016.

He congratulated Laos, as the ASEAN Chair in 2016, on its successful organisation of the ten-member group’s major meetings, significantly contributing to the building of the ASEAN Community and maintaining the intra-bloc solidarity, for the sake of peace, stability and development in the region and the wider world.

The host affirmed that Laos’s success in assuming the ASEAN Chairmanship is partly attributable to Vietnam’s contributions, especially as demonstrated at the 49th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting last July.

The two sides agreed to effectively translate the reached agreements into deeds and coordinate with each other to organise the annual meeting of the two Political Bureaus and the 39th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee later this year, along with the fourth theoretical conference between the two Parties.

They will also partner up with each other to conduct activities to mark the 55th anniversary of the bilateral diplomatic ties and 40 years of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.

The same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc attended a meeting with Lao National Assembly Chairman Pany Yathotou, during which they attributed the fruitful cooperation between the two countries over the years to contributions of the two legislative bodies.

The PM urged the two legislatures to enhance their coordination in supervising the implementation of high-ranking agreements, especially those reached at the 38th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee, thus facilitating joint investment projects.

He called on the Lao NA to continue backing necessary changes made to mechanisms, policies and laws in order to boost trade and investment ties between the two countries.

NA Chairman Pany Yathotou suggested the two sides increase the exchange of information and experience in institutional and legal reform, as well as in supervising law enforcement.

Host and guest consented to step up people-to-people exchanges, especially in educating the two countries’ young generations about the special solidarity.

Earlier, the Vietnamese leader had a cordial meeting with the host country’s PM.

(Source: NDO)