A ceremony to inaugurate and hand over to the Laos Ministry of National Security a centre for criminal science - a project built with the Vietnamese government’s non-refundable aid - was held in Vientiane on Aug. 25.

The Centre for Criminal Science, covering an area of 10,000 sq.m, includes a 2,250 sq.m, 3-storey building equipped with state-of-the-art facilities. The total cost of the centre was over 43 billion VND (2.4 million USD).

Addressing the ceremony, both Vietnamese Minister of Public Security Le Hong Anh and Lao Minister of National Security Thongbanh Seng Aphone stressed the significance of the project, which they described as a token of the special rapport between the two countries in general and the two ministries in particular.

The completion of the centre was timed to precede the 25th Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games) in late 2009. This will be the largest regional sports event ever hosted by Laos, and the new centre will facilitate the work of Lao security forces in fulfilling their related duties.

On the occasion, the Lao State’s Order of Development was presented to the leadership of the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the unit in charge of building the project.

On the same day, General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and State President Choummaly Sayasone received Minister Anh and his delegation.

The Lao leader expressed thanks to the Vietnamese Party, State and people for their assistance, and praised the effective cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the Lao Ministry of National Security./.