Vietnam, Laos plan 500 kV transmission line

Vietnam and Laos agreed on Feb. 24 tocollaborate in the construction of a 500 kV transmission line linkingthe two countries to facilitate electricity trade.

The agreement was reached during a meeting in Hanoi administered byVietnam ’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Vu Huy Hoang, and LaoMinister of Energy and Mining, Soulivong Dalavong.
They also agreed to send a proposal to the Asian Development Bank,asking for technical and financial support for the 500kV transmissionline.

The two ministers expressed delights at the progress and agreementreached on the Sekaman 1 hydro electricity project and confirmed bothsides’ readiness to cooperate ensuring joint hydropower schemes asscheduled.

They agreed to jointly review the feasibility and the execution speedof power plant projects in Laos designed to sell electricity to Vietnam.

Minister Hoang thanked the Lao government for creating favourableconditions for Vietnamese firms to carry out exploration andexploitation projects for minerals, oil and gas in Laos .

In response, Minister Soulivong Dalavong praised Vietnam ’s assistancein training energy officials for Laos , expressing the desire toincrease the exchanged of professional knowledge and managementexperiences with relevant agencies in Vietnam .
On the same day, the Lao minister met with Permanent Deputy PrimeMinister Nguyen Sinh Hung and worked with Vietnam ’s National Oil andGas corporation (PVN).

During the meeting, Permanent Deputy PM Hung underlined the importancefor Vietnam and Laos to boost cooperation and support each other notonly in economy but also in national defence and security, especiallyamong bordering provinces./.