Vietnam and Laos pledged on October 20 to step up investment, trade and tourism promotion activities, create favourable conditions for the two sides’ businesses, and build a borderline of peace, friendship, stability, cooperation and development.

The consensus was reached at a working session between local authorities of Vietnam ’s central province of Quang Binh and Laos ’ central province of Khammouane to seek ways to beef up the effectiveness of bilateral cooperation in the new situation.

The two sides said that it is necessary to raise public awareness on the special traditional friendship between the two nations in general and between the two localities in particular.

They pledged to make full use of the road system linking them including the national road 12A and the route from Dong Hoi city, Quang Binh province to Thakhek and Vientiane in Laos.

Local authorities from the two provinces agreed to propose that the two countries’ Governments allow traffic to move freely through the Ca Roong-Noong Ma border gate, turning it into the area’s main crossing point.

In terms of education, a total of 42 students from Khammouane province have been trained at Quang Binh University since 2006 and this year, four teachers from Quang Binh province were sent to Laos to help boost the latter’s training and education activities. Also, Quang Binh has invested 9 billion VND to build a two-storey school on an area of 1,500 sq. metres in Thakhek township.

In the 2008-2009 period, under the assistance of Khammouane provincial authorities, Quang Binh province found, gathered and repatriated 139 sets of remains of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers and experts fallen in Laos.

At the end of 2008, the two provinces completed border demarcation and landmark planting at the Cha Lo-Na Phau international border gate. They are expected to plant 10 landmarks along their borderline and continue to define 20 more positions for landmark planting this year.

According to newly-released statistics, two-way trade through the Vietnam-Laos border has so far this year reached 38.4 million USD, up 44 percent as compared with last year’s figure./.