Vietnamese Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long (R) and Lao Minister of Justice Phayvi Sibualipha. (Photo: VNA) Addressing the event, Vietnamese Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long underlined the significance of the conference in giving recommendations and proposals to complete coordination regulations between the two Ministries of Justice and judicial agencies of border localities of Vietnam and Laos, ensuring law enforcement and creating favourable conditions for border residents to settle down and enjoy their rights and interests.
For his part, Lao Minister of Justice Phayvi Sibualipha noted that the conference was a chance for both sides to seek consensus and measures to effectively and comprehensively realise agreements reached by the two Ministries of Justice and the two Governments.
The participants discussed a wide range of issues on judicial cooperation between the two sides.
To date, the number of undocumented Lao migrants and Lao people with unregistered marriage who are allowed to reside in Vietnam has reached 1,516, while the number of Vietnamese people with similar conditions that received Lao citizenship is 2,726.
The participants agreed that in the time to come, the two Ministries of Justice will continue to work closely with relevant agencies to deal with requests of undocumented Vietnamese residing in Laos to receive Lao nationality by June 2023.
They will seek measures to effectively resolve civil status and nationality issues in the spirit of ensuring the legitimate rights and interests of people on the basis of the sound traditional friendship between the two countries.
The two Ministries of Justice will also finalise negotiations for an agreement on mutual legal assistance in civil matters, while strengthening coordination in multilateral and regional mutual legal support cooperation activities, including coordination in implementing Vietnam's initiative on enhancing mutual legal assistance in civil matters in ASEAN.
The two ministries will also work together to implement their annual cooperation programmes to realise their collaboration agreement for the 2021-2025 period as well as signed deals in personnel training.
On the sidelines of the conference, the two ministries signed their cooperation programme for 2023. Cooperation agreements were also inked between the Central Region College of Law and the Lao National Academy of Justice, and between the Judicial Departments of Son La province and Xayaburi province of Laos./.
VNA
