Secretary of the Binh Thuan provincial Party Committee Nguyen Manh Hung speaks at the seminar (Photo: VNA) Binh Thuan (VNA) –A seminar was held in Phan Thiet city, the south central province of BinhThuan, to look into the five and a half decades of the special friendship andcomprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos.
The event was held by the Ho Chi Minh NationalAcademy of Politics, the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, the NationalAcademy of Politics and Public Administration of Laos, and the Lao Academy ofSocial Sciences.
Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh academy LeQuoc Ly said in the initial period of the fight against colonialism, the twocountries formed a military alliance to combat the common enemy. Volunteersoldiers of Vietnam came to join the Pathet Lao armed forces in the struggle.
The two sides’ undaunted fighting spirit,sacrifice and close coordination took the countries’ resistance war againstcolonialism to glorious victory, which was marked with the signing of theGeneva Accords in 1954, he noted.
Thongsalith Mangnomek, Director of the Laos’sNational Academy of Politics and Public Administration, said the Lao People’sRevolutionary Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam have maintained solidrelations as seen in the issuance of harmonious policies on the countries’solidarity. The cooperation and special solidarity between the two Parties andStates are flourishing with the assurance of leaders of both countries.
In the face of complex and unpredictable globalsituation and each country’s development demands, Vietnam and Laos give the toppriority to promoting their traditional friendship, special solidarity andcomprehensive cooperation to a new level under the motto of pragmatism, qualityand effectiveness.
They also agreed to bring economic ties on a parwith the sound political relations, and enhance Government-to-Government,locality-to-locality and business-to-business partnerships to boostconnectivity and mutual support between the two economies, he added.
It was reported at the seminar that Vietnam’sinvestment in Laos has amounted to nearly 4 billion USD since 1989. Bilateraltrade exceeded 800 million USD in 2016. Vietnam has continually supported itsneighbouring country in poverty reduction and national development. The twosides have also worked to bolster transport connectivity and facilitate tradeand investment cooperation.-VNA
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