Hanoi: Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his spouse guided visiting Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and his spouse in their tour of Ngoc Son Temple and around Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi on January 7.

PM Chinh and his wife introduced the Lao guests to Thap But (pen tower), Dai Nghien (ink slab tower), The Huc Bridge, Ngoc Son Temple, and especially the turtles in the lake and the legend of Hoan Kiem Lake.

Legend has it that King Le Loi returned his magic sword to the Golden Turtle in the lake after defeating the Ming Empire.

Hoan Kiem Lake and Ngoc Son Temple on the lake was recognised as a special national relic site in 2013.

On the occasion of the New Year and the upcoming Lunar New Year of the Dragon, PM Chinh presented PM Sonexay a calligraphy with Vietnamese words which read Vietnam-Laos friendship is forever green and solid for generations.

After their trip, the two PMs and their wives had an exchange with Vietnamese and Lao students.

The two PMs expressed their hope that Vietnamese and Lao stu
dents in particular and youngsters in general will exert efforts in studying, practicing, developing themselves and building their own careers, thus realising their dreams, implementing their social responsibility and contributing to national defence and construction in each country.

They should maintain and promote their national identity, while staying united and supporting each other, writing more golden pages of the close brotherhood, great friendly neighborhood, and the special and rare solidarity as well as the comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

Vietnam and Laos have enjoyed fruitful education-training cooperation

In the 2011-2021 period, Vietnam received nearly 30,000 Lao students for training. Meanwhile, since 1982, the Lao Government has trained nearly 5,000 officials and students of Vietnam./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and his spouse left Hanoi on January 7 afternoon, concluding his official visit to Vietnam and co-chairing the 46th session of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernment Committee from January 6-7 at the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.

While here, the Lao leader laid a wreath at President Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and paid respect to the late leader. He also had meetings with State President Vo Van Thuong and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue.

At the talks and meetings, Vietnamese leaders spoke highly of the achievements recorded by the Lao Party, State, and people. Leaders of the two countries expressed their joy at the fine, comprehensive, extensive and intensive, and effective developments of the bilateral great friendship, special solidary, and comprehensive cooperation in all fields.

On the cooperation orientations for the time to come, the two sides agreed to intensify the exchange of high-level visits and contacts, and to strengthen the connectivi
ty between the two economies.

The Vietnamese leaders affirmed their readiness to support Laos in successfully shouldering international responsibilities in 2024, including the ASEAN chairmanship,

On this occasions, ministries and sectors of the two countries signed four cooperation documents.

At the Vietnam – Laos investment and cooperation conference, the two PMs witnessed the hand-over of investment licenses and cooperation documents in finance, agriculture, and mining.

On January 7 morning, the two PMs co-chaired the 46th session of the Intergovernment Committee which focused the assessment of the result of the implementation in the past year and the working out of the new tasks and orientations for 2024.

While here, the spouse of the Lao PM, Mme. Vandara Siphandone, joined the Vietnamese PM’s spouse, Mme. Le Thi Bich Tran, in visiting education establishment and craft villages in Thai Binh province and Hanoi./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: Vietnam always attaches importance to the good traditional friendship with Cambodia, President Vo Van Thuong told visiting Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister Neth Savoeun during a meeting in Hanoi on January 7.

Hosting a reception for the Cambodian guest, President Thuong highly valued the fact that Vietnamese Deputy PM Le Minh Khai and his Cambodian counterpart Savoeun delivered speeches which spotlighted the flourishing relations between Vietnam and Cambodia at a meeting to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the victory of the war defending the southwestern border and, together with the Cambodian troops and people, defeating the genocidal regime (January 7, 1979 – 2024).

He emphasised that Vietnam always remembers the righteous support of the Cambodian people to Vietnam’s struggles to defend the nation as well as in the national construction and defence today.

Along with geographical and cultural connections, the two peoples have stood side by side to fight common enemies, overcome difficulties and ha
rdships, and now cooperate for development, he said.

He expressed his pleasure as Cambodian leaders wish to continue deepening the traditional friendship through recent visits to Vietnam by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Moha Bovor Thipadei Hun Manet, President of the Cambodian National Assembly Samdech Khuon Sudary, and other high-ranking leaders of the State and Government of Cambodia.

Thuong spoke highly of the comprehensive development of cooperation between the two countries in all fields, saying that the 10-billion-USD trade value between the two sides is a basis for further elevating trade and investment cooperation.

The defence and security cooperation is an important pillar, contributing to creating a stable environment for development, he said, adding that people-to-people exchanges, especially in border areas, have been enhanced and the two countries regularly have initiatives to form new cooperation mechanisms across channels of the Party, State, Government, National Assembly, and other or
ganisations.

He said he hopes that the relationship between the two countries will continue to grow stronger and deeper in the future, expressing his belief that under the wise reign of King Norodom Sihamoni, the CPP led by Samdech Techo Hun Sen, and the Cambodian government headed by Prime Minister Hun Manet, Cambodia will develop strongly and its position and role in the region and the world be improved.

The two leaders expressed their joy at the fruitful and practical development of the bilateral relations, and close cooperation in socio-economic development.

Savoeun showed his honour to attend the celebration, and conveyed New Year wishes from Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, Chairman of the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) Samdech Techo Hun Sen, and Prime Minister Hun Manet to Vietnamese Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong, President Vo Van Thuong, and other leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam.

He expressed his hope that the two countries will continue to strongly promote people-to-people e
xchanges, thereby further nurturing the bilateral relations./

Source: Vietnam News Agency

Hanoi: National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue had a meeting with visiting Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone in Hanoi on January 7, during which he affirmed that Vietnam always gives the highest priority to the special traditional relations with Laos.

The Vietnamese top legislator congratulated Laos on successfully hosting the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Parliamentary Summit in December 2023 which helps foster the relations among the three parliaments in particular and the three countries in general.

PM Sonexay underlined that Laos always treasures and considers the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam as the top priority.

He spoke highly of NA Chairman Hue’s visit to Laos in May 2022 and thanked Vietnam for supporting Laos in organising the first Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Parliamentary Summit.

The two sides shared their pleasure at and highly valued the achievements of the Vietnam-Laos cooperation in general and the collaboration between the two NAs in particu
lar.

They agreed on the need to work more closely together in implementing high-level agreements, and underlined the necessity of strengthening bilateral trade and investment cooperation as well as connections between the two economies, including transport connectivity, along with collaboration in education-training, culture and people-to-people exchanges.

They pledged to work together in settling difficulties facing businesses and important joint projects.

Regarding cooperation between the two legislatures, the two sides agreed to support the increase of visits and meetings between leaders of the two NAs and NA committees, while strengthening the experience sharing, especially in the building of institutions and legal systems and supervising the implementation of agreements and deals reached by the two Governments. The two NAs should coordinate in organising conferences of professional topics for NA agencies, they said.

They concurred to support the two NAs’ collaboration at international and regional fo
rums, especially the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA).

NA Chairman Hue congratulated Laos for taking the role of the ASEAN and AIPA Chair in 2024, affirming that Vietnam is willing to give maximum assistance to Laos in performing this important role.

He suggested that the two NAs cooperate with the Cambodian parliament in effectively implementing outcomes of the first Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Parliamentary Summit./.

Source: Vietnam News Agency