Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavad Lengsavath on August 25 paid a visit to northern mountainous Thai Nguyen province, one of Vietnamese localities providing big human resource training programmes for Laos. The visit was made during Lengsavath’s trip to Vietnam to attend a series of activities marking the 50 th anniversary of the Vietnam – Laos diplomatic ties and 35 years of the signing of Vietnam – Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty. At his working session with the provincial authorities, which was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, the Lao leader asked for the province’s continued assistance in human resource training. He said he hopes to see more enterprises from Thai Nguyen in particular and Vietnam in general to invest in biotechnology, social development projects, agriculture, and poverty reduction in Laos. Deputy PM Phuc, for his part, asked Thai Nguyen to continue stepping up cooperation with Laos through personnel training and economic development projects, saying this is a significant task in the diplomatic front. During the visit, the Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment handed over an investment license for a project to explore zinc, lead and tin ores in Xiengkhuang and Huaphan provinces. The project, with an estimated cost of 64 billion kip (roughly 8 million USD) will be carried out in six years by Thai Nguyen-based Chien Cong Minerals and Industry Joint Stock Company. During the war of resistance against the colonialist French, Thai Nguyen was chosen as the centre of the Viet Bac safety zone, locally known as the country’s ‘revolutionary capital’. Many Vietnamese soldiers and volunteers from Thai Nguyen were sent to Laos to help it in its resistance wars while various Lao revolutionaries were sent to Thai Nguyen for working and studying./.
