The first congress of the Thanh Hoa province’s Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association was held on August 2, attracting more than 600 participants.

Under its working plan for the 2010-2015 period, the Vietnam-Laos Friendship Association will act as a bridge to further boost ties between Thanh Hoa province and Huaphan province of Laos, which share a 192 km-long border.

It will also maintain cultural exchange activities between the two provinces to mark important events of the two nations, consolidate and protect border security as well as increase awareness about people-to-people policies of the two countries.

The association has so far had 600,000 members, who used to spend time studying and working in Laos or took part in the resistance war on the Lao front.

Ha Van Thuong, Chairman of the provincial Fatherland Front Committee, was elected President of the association./.