Vietnamese and Lao experts met in Luang Prabang city, Laos , on August 10 to review the two countries’ cooperation in the first months of 2012.

The meeting aims to prepare the mid-term session of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee to be held soon in the city.

At the event, deputy head of the Vietnam-Laos Cooperation Sub-committee Cao Viet Sinh, who is also Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment, and his Lao counterpart Phonsuc Khonsombath said that both sub-committees have actively implemented agreements to beef up traditional relations and their special friendship.

They said both countries have recorded positive results in bilateral cooperation; safeguarded social security and order; and implemented a project to reinforce and upgrade the national border marker system at a correct pace.

The education sectors of the two countries have coordinated with their relevant ministries and sectors in carrying out a scheme to improve the quality and effectiveness of their cooperation in education and training, they said.

At present, Vietnam has 435 investment projects in Laos totalling 5.2 billion USD, becoming a leading investor among 53 countries and territories investing in the country. Two-way trade reached 465 million USD in the first half of the year.

However, both sides underscored the need to bring into play their strategies to deploy agreements reached by the two countries’ leaders for the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Year 2012. These agreements focus particularly on education, human resources training, investment cooperation; the early signing of an agreement on investment encouragement and protection to replace the 1996 agreement, and the regular exchanges of information to promote the two countries’ comprehensive cooperation.-VNA