President Nguyen Xuan Phuc began his two-day official friendship visit to Laos on August 9. The visit is made at the invitation of General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and President Thongloun Sisoulith.
The visit is the first official visit to a foreign country by a senior Party and State leader after the 13th National Party Congress, and the first trip abroad by the State leader since he took office.
The visit takes place only six weeks after Lao Party and State leader Thongloun Sisoulith visited Vietnam. It is of significance to the bilateral relationship.
It is hoped to contribute to maintaining the sound tradition of the special ties between the two countries, opening up a new development period in the relations between the two Parties, States and people.
During their talks in Vientiane on August 9, the Vietnamese and Lao leaders promised to continue giving the highest priority to constantly consolidating and nurturing the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos.
Both sides highlighted the need to deepen bilateral political cooperation; coordinate closely in strategic issues related to security and development of each country; maintain high-level visits, among others.
They agreed to designate 2022 as the “Year of Vietnam-Laos, Laos-Vietnam Friendship and Solidarity” to celebrate the 60th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties and 45 years of the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation between the two countries.
The two leaders also affirmed to maintain cooperation in defence and security to effectively deal with traditional and non-traditional security challenges.
They agreed to coordinate closely at international and regional forums.
Both host and guest emphasised the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea.
After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of 14 cooperation documents between the two countries’ ministries, sectors and enterprises in the fields of defence, security, drug prevention and control, search and rescue, electricity trading, and mineral exploration, exploitation and processing.
On this occasion, Vietnam also presented a vocational training school in Khammuane province worth 5 million USD as a gift to Laos./.