Vientiane (VNA) – Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung has highlighted the significance of the upcoming Laos visit by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and President Nguyen Phu Trong.

In an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on February 22, the ambassador stressed that the visit is very important to the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive partnership between the two Parties, States and peoples.

He noted that the visit, to take place on February 24-25, will be the first foreign trip by the leader after he was elected as President, which proves that the Vietnamese Party and State as well as the leader himself, always give top priority to the Vietnam – Laos special relations.

In particular, the visit takes place after the two countries’ leaders met and agreed on measures to step up bilateral ties in the future, especially in 2019 – a crucial year to successfully realise the Resolutions of the 12th National Congress of the CPV and the 10th National Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.

Through the visit, the two countries also want to deliver an important message that they are consistently committed to further developing bilateral ties to a greater height, as wished by President Ho Chi Minh and their predecessors, he said.

Commenting on the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive partnership between the two Parties, States and peoples of Vietnam and Laos over the past years, Ambassador Hung said the relationship was founded and nurtured by Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Kaysone Phomvihane and passed down through generations of the two countries’ leaders. The special ties are reflected in all cooperation areas, especially in politics-diplomacy, national defence-security, culture and education.

People-to-people and locality-to-locality exchange have also thrived. Tens of Vietnamese and Lao localities have formed twinning and cooperative relations, which benefited mutual development, especially border localities.

The ambassador said that the two Parties and governments have highlighted the need to take strong and drastic actions to effectively boost economic, trade and investment ties.

In order to further develop bilateral ties, particularly amid complicated developments in the region and the world, the ambassador suggested that both sides should well implement high-level agreements by the two Parties and States, which he said was the decisive condition in order to achieve substantive quality change in the bilateral partnership.

He also called for strengthening basic pillars in bilateral relations, including the national defence-security cooperation pillar, promoting economic links and educating the two countries’ young generations about the special ties.-VNA
VNA