The Russian Federation Embassy to the Lao PDR held yesterday in Vientiane a reception party to celebrate the 31st anniversary of “Day of Russia”, one of Russia’s major national holidays, celebrated since 1992, two years after June 12, 1990 when the Russian Federation was proclaimed a sovereign state.
The celebration was joined by Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism Suansavanh Viyaketh, other ministers, senior officials of relevant offices, diplomatic officials and media.
“The National Day reflects not only the major democratic and economic transformations that began in our country thirty-two years ago, but also the entire historical path of the Russian state. National Day of Russia unites all the Russians and gives us a special opportunity to commemorate our history,” said Russian Ambassador to Laos Vladimir A. Kalinin.
He spoke highly of the relations between the Russian Federation and the Lao PDR, noting that Laos has been Russia’s long-standing partner and close friend in the South-East Asia for more than 60 years and the relations between the two countries have been experiencing dynamic development in a number of areas.
“We conduct regular political dialogues with one another, special attention is paid to the security issues and military-technical assistance, economic cooperation has been intensifying, we are engaged in cultural exchanges and consolidating regional ties,” said the ambassador.
This year has already been marked by a number of the milestone events in Laos and Russia’s bilateral relations.
In May, Chairman of the All-Russia political party “United Russia” cum Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev paid a working visit to the Lao PDR during which he had fruitful talks with Party Secretary General and State President Thongloun Sisoulith, and other high-level officials.
A delegation of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of Russia led by Pavel Tarakanov, Chairman of the Group of Friendship of the Federation Council with the National Assembly of the Lao PDR, paid a visit to the Lao PDR to deepen communication between the two parliaments.
The two countries’ bilateral interaction in trade and economic spheres continues to develop actively as well.
Last year the 16th Meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Lao Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held covering the spheres of new technologies, innovations, power industry, use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, medicine, tourism, air communication, interbank interaction and other sphere.
Special attention is paid to UXO clearance which has been carried out by Russian Mine Clearance Units since 2018. Russian demining teams have already worked in Borikhamxay, Xieng Khuang, Khammuan and Huaphan provinces and these activities will be continued. UXO clearance remains highly significant for Laos in terms of enhancing local livelihoods and rural development.
As for the education sector, every year the Russian Government provides almost 100 grants allocated to Lao students and today several hundreds of the Lao Youth are studying in Russia, preparing to become high qualified specialists in the near future.
The Russian side also plans to send Russian language teachers soon to work at the primary school in Vientiane. In April this year the Russian Film Festival was held in Vientiane which attracted wide attention of the Lao public. In the near future the “Days of the Russian culture” are planned to be arranged in Vientiane to enhance and deepen the further cooperation in the cultural sphere.
Source: Lao News Agency