Vietnamese Party, State and parliamentary leaders on Sept. 15 received the visiting Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh.

At his reception, Party General Secretary Nong Duc Manh said Vietnam always attached importance to developing relations with Laos for the benefits of the people and for peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

He affirmed that the Vietnam-Laos traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation was an invaluable property of the two nations which needed to be maintained, promoted and transferred to future generations. He thanked Laos for its past glorious support to Vietnam .

The Vietnamese Party leader highly valued the results of talks between the high-level delegations of the two governments and expressed his pleasure at the development of the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

General Secretary Manh expressed his hope that the two Governments would continue to coordinate to effectively implement agreements, improve the quality of personnel training, and raise two-way trade turnover. He also urged the implementation of investment projects and the project on upgrading and planting border markers between the two countries.

For his part, PM Bouasone Bouphavanh briefed the host about the implementation of the resolutions of the 8 th Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and recent resolutions of the LPRP Central Committee. He expressed thanks for Vietnam ’s great assistance to Laos and affirmed that the Lao Party, State and people would try their best to constantly develop the relations between the two countries.

Meeting the Lao government leader, Vietnamese State President Nguyen Minh Triet praised agreements on cooperation between the two governments as well as economic cooperation achievements between the two countries.

He expressed his joy at new developments of some economic joint ventures between Vietnamese and Lao enterprises and his belief that the fine political and diplomatic ties between the two nations would bring favourable conditions for a breakthrough in bilateral economic cooperation and trade in the future.

PM Bouasone Bouphavanh briefed President Triet about the results of the talks between the two governmental delegations, as well as achievements in economic cooperation between the two countries. He also informed President Triet about the implementation of agreements between the two Party political bureaus and agreements reached during the recent visit to Laos by President Triet.

He affirmed that the Lao people and nation always kept in mind the great assistance from Vietnam during their past struggle for national independence and the present national construction.

Host and guest also exchanged views on the prospects of economic cooperation between Vietnamese and Lao businesses, and the dissemination of information about the special ties enjoyed by Vietnam and Laos to the people, especially young people.

Later the same day, the Lao PM was received by Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Phu Trong, who expressed his pleasure at the close and effective cooperation relations between the two parliaments.

Chairman Trong pledged that the National Assembly of Vietnam would actively implement signed cooperation agreements between the two legislative bodies and oversee the implementation of cooperation agreements between the two governments./.