Highlights of the past week: General Secretary To Lam pays a State visit to Laos; Prime Minister meets with the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee

In the week from December 1 to 7, 2025, a number of notable events took place in the country: General Secretary To Lam paid a State visit to Laos; Prime Minister held a meeting of the Vietnam - Laos Intergovernmental Committee; The seventh working week of the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly; The Central and Central Highlands provinces were still heavily flooded; Doan Van Sang was prosecuted and temporarily detained for the crime of 'Murder'.

General Secretary To Lam held talks with Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith. Photo: Thong Nhat/VNA

General Secretary To Lam pays State visit to Laos

During the week, General Secretary To Lam and his wife Ngo Phuong Ly, along with a high-ranking Vietnamese delegation, paid a State visit to the Lao People's Democratic Republic, attended the 50th National Day Celebration of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and co-chaired the High-Level Meeting between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party at the invitation of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith and his wife from December 1 to 2, 2025.

During the visit, General Secretary To Lam held talks with Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith; met with Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and National Assembly Chairman Saysomphone Phomvihane; visited former senior leaders of Laos; attended the 50th National Day celebration; laid wreaths at the Monument to Unknown Soldiers; delivered a policy speech at the Lao National Academy of Politics and Public Administration; attended the inauguration ceremony of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Park and several other activities; co-chaired the High-level Meeting between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party...

This is one of Vietnam's particularly important foreign affairs activities in 2025 and is also the first State visit of General Secretary To Lam in his new position to Laos. The visit takes place at a time of great significance when Laos celebrates the 50th anniversary of National Day (December 2, 1975 - December 2, 2025) and before the Congress of the two Parties held in 2026 to make decisions on development orientations for each country.

During the visit, the two countries signed important cooperation documents, creating a legal corridor, opening up new cooperation directions, in line with the development requirements of each country and common interests, continuing to deepen the special relationship between Vietnam and Laos in the new situation. General Secretary To Lam's visit to Laos this time affirmed Vietnam's consistent foreign policy of always giving the highest priority to the special solidarity relationship with Laos.

This is also an opportunity for the two countries to affirm their determination to build a new vision, bringing the Vietnam - Laos relationship to a new level of development with increasingly deep trust, opening up strong breakthroughs in cooperation in all fields...

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone co-chaired the 48th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee on Bilateral Cooperation. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Prime Minister meets Vietnam - Laos Intergovernmental Committee

Also during the week, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone co-chaired the 48th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee on Bilateral Cooperation. The meeting aimed to review and assess the implementation of agreements in the Vietnam-Laos Cooperation Plan for the 2021-2025 period and 2025; at the same time, discuss and agree on cooperation directions and tasks for the 2026-2030 period and 2026; and immediately concretize the results of the High-level Meeting between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.

In order to promote the relationship between the two countries, especially right after the High-level Meeting between the two Parties, the two Prime Ministers agreed that the two sides should immediately join hands to deepen the content of the Vietnam - Laos relationship to a new height of "Great friendship, special solidarity, comprehensive cooperation, strategic connection", with "political relations being vital, defense, security and economic cooperation being key, cooperation in science, technology, education and training being a breakthrough, cooperation between enterprises and people being the foundation, and local cooperation being the lever".

The two Prime Ministers agreed to jointly raise strategic trust to a higher level; further strengthen cooperation in the fields of national defense and security; create a strong, strategic breakthrough in economic, trade, investment and infrastructure development cooperation, promoting connectivity between the two economies, infrastructure connectivity, ensuring economic security and energy security of each country; removing difficulties and barriers, ensuring the effectiveness of cooperation programs and projects between the two countries...

At the meeting, the two sides signed the following cooperation documents: Cooperation Agreement between the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam for the period 2026-2030; Agreement on the Cooperation Plan between the Government of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Government of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2026; Minutes of the 48th Meeting of the Vietnam - Laos Intergovernmental Committee; Cooperation Plan for 2026 between the Ministries of Education and Training of the two countries.

The National Assembly voted to pass the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Judicial Records. Photo: Doan Tan/VNA

The seventh working week of the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly continues legislative work.

Working week from December 1 to 5, the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly continued to discuss many important issues on the agenda, with many contents broadcast live on television and radio. Notably, the National Assembly spent the whole day of December 2 discussing the Draft Resolution of the National Assembly on breakthrough mechanisms and policies for the work of protecting, caring for and improving people's health; investment policy for the National Target Program on health care, population and development for the 2026-2035 period; investment policy for the National Target Program on modernization and improvement of the quality of education and training for the 2026-2035 period.

On December 4, the National Assembly held a plenary session at the Hall to discuss: Reports on the 2021-2026 tenure of the President and the Government; Draft Report on the 15th tenure of the National Assembly; Reports on the 15th tenure of the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Nationalities Council, the National Assembly Committees, and the State Audit; Reports on the 2021-2026 tenure of the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuracy, and the Draft Law on Specialized Courts at the International Financial Center.

During the working week, the National Assembly also discussed the National Target Program on new rural areas, sustainable poverty reduction, socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas until 2035; reported on the implementation of a number of resolutions of the 14th and 15th National Assembly terms on thematic supervision and questioning; draft Resolution of the National Assembly stipulating a number of mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties and obstacles in organizing the implementation of the Land Law; voted to pass the Law on State of Emergency, Law on Judicial Expertise (amended), Law on Enforcement of Civil Judgments (amended), Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Judicial Records...

Authorities arrange vehicles at the subsidence area on Mimosa Pass. Photo: Chu Quoc Hung/VNA

The Central and Central Highlands provinces are still severely flooded.

During the week, the Central and Central Highlands provinces, especially Lam Dong province, were still heavily flooded, many areas were flooded by rising water and inundated residential areas, many important roads and steep mountain passes in some offices were eroded, causing serious congestion. Notably, National Highway 20 section passing through Mimosa Pass was eroded from the night of November 19 until now, although it has been temporarily repaired, it is still buried by mud and landslides, making traffic difficult.

Heavy rains on December 3 caused severe flooding in many localities where National Highway 20 passes through, and low-lying residential areas were also flooded due to rising water levels. The floods flooded more than 400 hectares of land and crops, hundreds of houses were submerged 1.5 - 2.5 meters deep, and the pillars and foundations of three bridges collapsed. Local authorities promptly evacuated many elderly, sick and children from dangerous areas, so there were no casualties... Not only were the National Highways flooded, but the heavy rains that lasted from the afternoon of December 3 to 4 also caused landslides on many slopes, flooding the Phan Thiet - Vinh Hao Expressway... Local authorities are still supporting evacuation and inspecting heavily flooded areas to have timely response plans...

Subject Doan Van Sang (gray shirt) at the Police Department. Photo: bocongan.gov.vn

Prosecution and temporary detention of Doan Van Sang for 'Murder'

This week, the Ministry of Public Security and Lang Son Provincial Police prosecuted and temporarily detained Doan Van Sang (57 years old, in Lang Son) for murder, a subject related to a murder case that occurred in Huu Lung district (old), Lang Son province.

Through the work of grasping the situation on the internet, Lang Son Provincial Police discovered on social networking platforms that there were images and videos describing the incident with signs of suspected murder, causing public panic. Through the process of investigation, verification, documents and evidence collected, Lang Son Provincial Police identified the victim as Nguyen Xuan Dat (from Tien Hung commune, Hung Yen province) and the subject who committed the murder as Doan Van Sang (former Deputy Captain of Market Management Team No. 4, Lang Son province).

Lang Son Provincial Police are continuing to coordinate and direct relevant units to expand the investigation and handle the case according to regulations.

Through this incident, the Ministry of Public Security requested that press agencies focus on promoting propaganda and warnings in many forms, to fight against those who take advantage of the image and incident of Doan Van Sang to report false information, incite violence, cause public confusion, and violate the law.

People absolutely must not share, comment, or spread negative videos and images that incite violence related to the case and must raise awareness when participating in groups, especially groups that show signs of suspected violations of the law on cyberspace, and promptly report to authorities when discovering incidents, deviant behaviors, violence, or violations of the law...

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/thoi-su/noi-bat-tuan-qua-tong-bi-thu-to-lam-tham-cap-nha-nuoc-toi-lao-thu-tuong-hop-uy-ban-lien-chinh-phu-viet-lao-20251206193606418.htm