The Prime Minister emphasized that the Vietnam-Laos relationship is a special one, so there needs to be a special approach and mechanisms to develop economic and trade cooperation commensurate with its potential.
The visit to the Lao People's Democratic Republic and co-chairing of the 47th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee on January 9-10 by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation was a great success.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's first working trip of the year, with new thinking and new approaches, is expected to open up a new step of development in Vietnam-Laos relations.
As the first overseas trip of a key Vietnamese leader in 2025 and the first high-ranking foreign guest to visit Laos in 2025, right from the moment he arrived at Wattay International Airport, the capital of Vientiane, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese delegation were warmly welcomed with special and intimate ceremonies and characteristics.
In just 2 days of working in Laos, the Prime Minister had nearly 20 activities with extremely diverse and rich contents. In particular, the Prime Minister had meetings and contacts with all the highest-ranking leaders of the Lao Party, State and National Assembly; visited and met with former high-ranking leaders of Laos.
During the meetings between Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Lao leaders and former leaders, both sides were pleased that bilateral relations continued to deepen and be substantive in all areas, with a focus on key points; political cooperation was increasingly trustworthy and close, especially the regular maintenance of high-level and all-level exchanges and contacts; defense-security cooperation continued to be an important pillar; economic, trade and investment cooperation continued to develop strongly.
The two sides continue to support each other in building an independent, self-reliant economy, deeply and effectively integrating into the international community; cultural and educational cooperation, people-to-people exchange and cooperation between localities continue to develop strongly; high-level delegation exchanges, especially on the occasion of major events of the two countries, demonstrate the spirit of solidarity, attachment and determination to complete the set goals.
The two governments, departments and localities have made great efforts and determination to promote bilateral cooperation in a breakthrough direction, with focus and key points; requested that the departments and agencies of the two countries concentrate highly and actively implement the results agreed upon by the leaders of the two countries; at the same time, requested that the two sides further strengthen the connection between the two economies of Laos and Vietnam, especially in finance, infrastructure, transportation, energy, telecommunications, tourism, etc.
Notably, during the working trip, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Lao Prime Minister chaired two important events: the 47th Meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee and the Vietnam-Laos Investment Cooperation Conference; at the same time, the two Prime Ministers attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Park Project in Vientiane - a gift from the Party, State and People of Vietnam to the Party, State and People of Laos.
Considering that the two countries have favorable conditions in many aspects of political and diplomatic relations, geographical and cultural conditions, sharing and love for each other, the results of economic, trade and investment cooperation between Vietnam and Laos are still limited, not commensurate with the different potentials, outstanding opportunities, competitive advantages of the two countries and the relationship between the two countries, the Prime Minister wondered whether the above limitations are due to limited institutions, policy mechanisms, hard and soft connection infrastructure, especially the difficult traffic infrastructure between Vietnam and Laos.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh suggested that in the coming time, ministries, branches and agencies of the two countries must join hands to thoroughly handle difficulties to "have output" for projects, with the spirit of "clearly assigning people, clear tasks, clear time, clear responsibilities, clear products;" Vietnam-Laos relations are special, so there needs to be a way of behaving, special mechanisms; "wherever there are difficulties, they should be resolved; at whichever level there are difficulties, they should be resolved."
Agreeing with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Sonexay Siphandone said that in recent times, the two governments have made great efforts and focused on jointly investing in infrastructure development, especially transport infrastructure to connect the two economies and the region, creating conditions for trade and investment development.
The two sides are also determined to clear up obstacles and completely resolve backlog projects in bilateral relations in recent times, creating momentum for the two sides to enter a new, more practical and effective development phase, especially transport connection projects; at the same time, promoting the removal of difficulties for businesses to invest and do business conveniently, effectively and sustainably in each side...
According to Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong, the two sides have resolved many problems and bottlenecks that have not been resolved for a long time, especially issues related to large projects of Vietnamese enterprises in Laos as well as projects that Laos has invested in Vietnam such as Vung Ang Port 1, 2, 3; salt mine and potash projects; development cooperation projects between Vietnam and Laos using Vietnam's aid capital such as the National Assembly building project, hospital project in Laos...
The two sides agreed on new policies, approaches, new thinking, new ways of doing things, and higher determination and more effective measures to further develop the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Laos in the coming time.
In addition to strengthening foreign political cooperation, promoting security-defense cooperation, enhancing people-to-people exchanges, cultural and educational exchanges, etc., the two sides are determined to soon bring two-way trade turnover to 5 billion USD, instead of just over 2.2 billion USD as at present.
During the working trip, the two countries signed four cooperation documents, including an agreement on electricity and coal trading; granted seven investment certificates to businesses; businesses also signed and granted six investment cooperation agreements, with a total capital of billions of USD in the fields of aviation, finance, energy, agriculture, human resource training, etc.
Along with that, the two sides announced the framework for local currency payment and bilateral retail payment connection using QR codes between Vietnam and Laos, creating favorable conditions for transactions of businesses and people of both sides in economic, trade, investment, tourism activities...
Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Laos Soulysak Thamnuvong said that the launch of the cross-border payment service using QR Code between Laos and Vietnam today is very important, showing that the two Governments and the two Central Banks attach great importance to payments in the local currencies of Laos and Vietnam, moving towards using the local currency for payment activities in trade and investment between the two countries, including payments for retail activities using QR Code between Laos and Vietnam, Vietnam and Laos.
Deputy Governor Soulysak Thamnuvong affirmed that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed that we must realize, "what we say we must do, what we promise we must fulfill" to maintain the tradition of special relations between the two countries.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Do Hung Viet commented that with the sentiments coming from the heart, with determination, will and efforts in every action, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's visit to Laos and co-chairing of the 47th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee was a great success, contributing to consolidating and developing the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in the coming time.
The visit effectively carried out the foreign affairs tasks set out at the 13th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam; as well as high-level agreements between Vietnam and Laos, especially at the meeting of the two Politburoes in September 2024; towards 2025 and the coming period, Vietnam-Laos relations will develop even more strongly./.
Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/chuyen-cong-tac-cua-thu-tuong-toi-lao-tu-duy-moi-mo-ra-buoc-phat-trien-moi-post1007041.vnp
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