Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung received his Lao counterpart Thongsing Thammavong in the central province of Binh Dinh on Feb 26.

The Lao Prime Minister is paying a four-day visit to Kon Tum, Gia Lai and Binh Dinh provinces, starting on Feb 23.

PM Dung said the visit is of great importance, contributing to boosting the Vietnam-Laos special cooperation in all fields, especially in economy, trade and investment, in the context of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Year 2012.

He congratulated Laos for its achievements in socio-economic development and external affairs, which helped enhance the country’s position in the regional and international arena.

Lao PM Thongsing Thammavong said that Laos learned valuable experiences from Vietnam in socio-economic development, the mobilisation of resources from all the political system and society for poverty reduction, as well as in combining socio-economic development programmes with poverty reduction and maintaining social order and national defence.

He expressed his wish that Vietnam will continue sharing experience in socio-economic development with Laos and helping Laos in human resource training to meet demands for national development.

The two PMs said the quick expansion of trade and investment cooperation has served as a firm foundation for the two countries to boost their ties in other fields in future.

They affirmed that the two governments will effectively implement high-level agreements, creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises investing in Laos and rapidly increasing two-way trade.

They also agreed to accelerate the exchanges of visits at all levels to share experiences and timely remove any arising obstacles in bilateral cooperation.-VNA