State President Nguyen Minh Triet and his entourage left Vientiane on the morning of Aug. 25 and visited Louang Namtha and Champasak provinces of Laos .

Lao State President Chummaly Sayasone held a farewell ceremony for the Vietnamese guests, affirming that the official visit by President Triet strengthened the special friendship and solidarity between the two Parties, States and people of Laos and Vietnam .

President Triet expressed his pleasure at the fine development in relations between the two countries over the past, which opened up many opportunities for economic, trade and investment cooperation. He repeated his invitation to President Chummaly Sayasone to visit Vietnam soon.

Earlier the same day, President Triet visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos , meeting the embassy’s staff and representatives of Overseas Vietnamese in Laos .

President Triet praised Overseas Vietnamese for their solidarity and contributions towards the homeland as well as their joining hands with Lao people in the past national liberation and the present national development.

President Triet and the high-level delegation of Vietnam visited Louang Namtha, northern Laos , visiting local cultural and education establishments.

Meeting with Louang Namtha Party Secretary and Governor Phimmason Leuang-khamma, President Triet expressed his hope that Louang Namtha would look for economic cooperation with Vietnamese localities and should take the advantage of the border to develop a strong border economy.

On this occasion, President Triet presented Louang Namtha with 10 billion VND (520,000 USD) and 30 sets of computers. Some businesses included in the delegation presented 150,000 USD to help local poor and disadvantaged families.

In the past, Vinh Phuc and Phu Tho of Vietnam helped Louang Namtha build cultural houses, broadcasting stations, hospitals, boarding schools and junior secondary schools.

The same day, President Triet and his entourage visited Champasak in southern Laos , one of the country’s most dynamic provinces.

President Triet praised the province’s economic, cultural and tourism potential and hailed the economic cooperation with central and southern localities of Vietnam , especially Ho Chi Minh City , stressing that this cooperation has been a bright point in Vietnam-Laos cooperation.

At present, there are 18 projects worth over 1 billion USD of Vietnamese enterprises operating in Champasak. The Lao province has cooperation ties with 13 localities of Vietnam and is expecting investment in development of agriculture, industrial crops, transport, tourism, education and training./.