Vietnam, Laos committed to expanding cooperation in various areas, including security
PSNews - Vietnamese Prime Minister (PM) Pham Minh Chinh held talks with visiting Lao PM Phankham Viphavanh on January 8 in Hanoi after a welcome ceremony held earlier on the same day. Later, they witnessed the signing of important cooperation agreements between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and its Lao counterpart.
During the talks, PM Chinh spoke highly of the achievements recorded by Laos in its national construction and reform over the past years as well as the Lao government’s determination and effort to control the COVID-19 and recover its economy.
The host expressed his gratitude to the great support of the Lao people for Vietnam in the national construction and defense cause.
For his part, the Lao PM thanked his Vietnamese counterpart for the warm welcome and hailed Vietnam’s achievements in its recent national construction and development. He also thanked the Party, State and people of Vietnam for their great, valuable assistance to Laos.
The two PMs reaffirmed their countries’ consistent policies of always attaching importance and giving top priority to consolidating and strengthening the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos. They expressed delight at the flourishing relations between the two countries in spite of the complicated COVID-19 situation.
In order to promote the special friendship of Vietnam and Laos in the time to come, the two sides agreed to continue exchange of visits and contacts of delegations of all levels, effectively implement the signed agreements; well organize activities in celebration of the 60th anniversary of Vietnam - Laos relations and other diplomatic events; coordinate in implementing the Protocols and cooperation plans on security - defense as well as on the fight against transnational crimes, drug crimes, and illegal exploitation of natural resources; provide mutual support in safeguarding socio-security stability in each country; and continue to jointly search for remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who had laid down their lives in Laos.
The two Government leaders exchanged views on measures to strengthen the pillar of economic cooperation on par with their special relationship; and agreed to boost the connection between the two economies by investing in more roads, railways, air routes, and seaport projects. The Vietnamese side also promised to help Laos successfully fulfill its goal of becoming a logistics center in the region with sea connections.
They also agreed to continue raising the quality of education-training cooperation; strengthen cooperation in culture, sports and tourism; and boost cooperation in clean agriculture, e-commerce, digital transformation.
The two sides shared the same views on the international and regional situation and agreed to continue their close coordination and mutual support at multilateral forums, especially the ASEAN, United Nations and Mekong Subregion mechanisms, while joining other ASEAN countries in supporting Cambodia to successfully fulfill its 2022 ASEAN chairmanship, and step up the implementation of the ASEAN five-point consensus on the halt of violence and the acceleration of humanitarian support for Myanmar.
They also reached consensus on continuing their coordination to maintain the ASEAN common stance on strategic issues related to peace and stability in the region, including the East Sea issue.
Following their talks, the two PM witnessed the ceremony to sign and exchange eight cooperation documents in the fields of security, border, economy, banking, education, health care, and electricity.
