Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong receives Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith in December 2020. (Photo: VNA) Thongloun Sisoulith, his wife and a high-ranking delegationof the Lao Party and State will pay an official visit to Vietnam from June28-29, at the invitation of General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam(CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc andtheir spouses.
This is the first overseas trip by ThonglounSisoulith in his capacity as Lao Party General Secretary and President for the2021-2026 tenure, helping to affirm the two countries’ foreign policies ofattaching great importance to preserving and continuously developing the greatfriendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation.
The relationship has been consolidated and developedintensively, extensively, practically and effectively in different spheres,with political ties playing the core role.
The two sides have coordinated to organise visits,meetings and exchange programmes between leaders of the two Parties andcountries, while signing many important cooperative agreements between the twoParties and governments.
Party commissions, ministries, agencies andlocalities of Vietnam and Laos have also signed and actively implementedcooperative agreements and programmes, exchanged visits and shared experience.
Joint efforts have been made to raise publicawareness of the bilateral ties, especially among young people, organise majorevents, and build and upgrade historical relic sites featuring the relations.
Despite the complex development of the COVID-19pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, the two countries maintained a number ofvisits and meetings in suitable forms.
Cooperation in national defence and security, andexternal affairs has also been seen as an important pillar of the bilateralties.
The two sides have worked together to realiseprotocols and annual cooperative plans between the ministries of nationaldefence and public security, build a common border of stability and sustainabledevelopment, complete a project to increase and upgrade border markers, and reacha protocol on Vietnam – Laos borderline and border markers and an agreement onland border and border gates management regulations between the Vietnamese andLao governments.
Competent forces of the two countries havecoordinated in the fight against cross-border crime, especially drug smuggling,the search and repatriation of remains of Vietnamese volunteers and experts wholaid down their lives in the neighbouring country, and the COVID-19 combat.
At the same time, the two countries have closely andeffectively coordinated at multilateral forums.
The political ties have created a firm foundationfor the bilateral economic cooperation. Vietnam has invested 4.22 billion USD in413 projects in Laos so far, up about 30 percent from 2010, with about 2.2billion USD disbursed.
During the 2016-2020 period, two-way trade revenuestood at around 4.8 billion USD.
Attention has also been paid to cooperation inpersonnel training in transport and construction, energy industry; educationand training; and people-to-people diplomacy.
The Vietnam visit by the top leader of Laos willoffer an opportunity for the two sides to further exchange experience indevelopment, and seek measures to push ahead with the implementation ofhigh-level agreements between the two Parties and countries in 2021 and theyears to come./.
VNA
