Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Minh Tam writes in the condolence book. Photo: Do ​​Ba Thanh/VNA correspondent in Laos

In the context of the entire Party, the entire army and the people of all Lao ethnic groups deeply mourning the passing of General Khamtay Siphandone - former Chairman of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, former President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, a close and intimate friend of the Party, State, army and people of Vietnam, Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Minh Tam shared with VNA reporters in Vientiane about the tireless revolutionary life of the late President Khamtay Siphandone, along with his great contributions to the revolutionary cause of Laos and to the special Vietnam-Laos relationship.

Ambassador Nguyen Minh Tam said that Comrade Khamtay Siphandone was an outstanding leader of the first generation and a key member of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, an outstanding son of the Lao people, a loyal revolutionary soldier who sacrificed his whole life for national independence, freedom, happiness of the people and the prosperous development of Laos. Comrade Khamtay Siphandone was a great friend, a close comrade and brother who fought side by side in the long-term resistance wars of the two peoples of Vietnam and Laos, as well as accompanied each other in the cause of renovation, construction and defense of the Fatherland in each country.

Comrade Khamtay Siphandone was born into a farming family with a tradition of revolutionary struggle in Champasak province, Southern Laos. As early as 1946, comrade Khamtay Siphandone participated in the movement of civil servants, youth, and students, establishing a sports association to fight against French colonialism in a legal and secret manner. By 1947, when it was no longer possible to continue fighting against French colonialism in this manner, he sought to contact and join the Lao Itxala Front, marking the beginning of his revolutionary career. From late 1948 to 1950, he was the representative of the Lao Itxala Government in Southern Laos and was in charge of building revolutionary bases in Southern Laos. From 1950 to 1952, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Lao Itxala Front and then Chairman of the Central Laos Committee; In 1953, he was a member of the Indochinese Communist Party, the predecessor of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the Communist Party of Vietnam today; in 1957, he was a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.

In the following years, comrade Khamtay Siphandone stood shoulder to shoulder with President Kaysone Phomvihane, President Souphanouvong and other leaders, tirelessly devoting both his intelligence and strength to organizing and leading, making the Lao revolutionary movement increasingly mature and develop, achieving consecutive victories on all fronts, successfully completing the struggle for national liberation, giving birth to the Lao People's Democratic Republic on December 2, 1975.

After 1975, as a member of the Politburo, Deputy Prime Minister, and Minister of National Defense of Laos, he continued to work with President Kaysone Phomvihane and other leaders to research and propose policies for each period, including the renovation policy, while leading the implementation of resolutions and directives of the Party and laws of the State in each period in accordance with the circumstances of Laos and brought about results in each field, especially leading the implementation of two strategic tasks: protecting and developing the country.

In August 1991, the Supreme People's Council (National Assembly) of the 2nd term passed the Constitution of Laos and elected comrade Khamtay Siphandone as Prime Minister of the Lao Government.

In November 1992, the Politburo of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee elected him as Chairman of the Party Central Committee after the death of President Kaysone Phomvihane. In 1998, he was elected President by the National Assembly. As the highest leader of the Party and State, President Khamtay Siphandone has promoted his initiative and high sense of responsibility in directing the Party's theoretical research to develop a vision, strategy, guidelines, and policies for the country's long-term development and a socio-economic development plan for each period in accordance with the conditions of the new mechanism, the market economy mechanism under the management and administration of the State.

At the 7th Congress of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party in 2001, President Khamtay Siphandone directed the summary of 10 years of renovation and adopted 5 lessons learned from the comprehensive renovation process that are still valuable today. All of the above important contributions are the efforts, intelligence and creative thinking of President Khamtay Siphandone in the cause of protecting, building and developing Laos and organizing implementation so that the country and Lao people can have a prosperous and happy life like today.

Since retiring in 2006, Comrade Khamtay Siphandone has always been interested in and followed the situation of the country and the international situation, continuing to work tirelessly to contribute to the consolidation and building of a strong Lao People's Revolutionary Party, building a rule-of-law state of the people, by the people and for the people. Comrade Khamtay Siphandone has spent a lot of time visiting localities, ministries and branches and contributing many ideas to the leaders of the Lao Party and State in building and developing the country, including the Resolution "3 builds": building provinces into strategic units, building districts into comprehensively strong units, building villages into developed units. He is very interested in building a solid political base; building livestock and crop farms, model production models for replication among the people, building welfare works, and building new-style rural areas.

Reviewing the important contributions of President Khamtay Siphandone to Laos, it can be said that he was one of the outstanding leaders of the first generation of the Party, a key member of the Party Central Committee who led and directed the national and democratic revolution and achieved consecutive victories, bringing the Lao revolution to complete victory, gradually bringing Laos forward towards the goal of socialism.

Ambassador Nguyen Minh Tam emphasized that together with the great President Ho Chi Minh, President Kaysone Phomvihane and beloved President Souphanouvong, President Khamtai Siphandone and the leaders of the two countries have laid a solid foundation, devoted themselves to nurturing the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, which has increasingly blossomed and borne fruit, becoming an exemplary, loyal, pure and rare relationship in the world, a priceless common asset of the two peoples and summarized in the immortal poem of President Ho Chi Minh: "Vietnam - Laos, our two countries; Love is deeper than the Red River - Mekong River".

With his outstanding contributions to the revolutionary cause of Laos and Vietnam, President Khamtai Siphandone was awarded the National Gold Medal by the Lao Party and State and the Gold Star Medal by the Vietnamese Party and State.

According to baotintuc.vn

Source: https://huengaynay.vn/chinh-tri-xa-hoi/chu-tich-khamtay-siphandone-het-minh-vun-dap-cho-moi-quan-he-huu-nghi-vi-dai-viet-lao-152325.html