The two brotherly countries of Laos and Vietnam always give each other the highest priority.

President of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association and Lao Minister of Technology and Communications Boviengkham Vongdara said that the exchange of delegations between the two countries is clear evidence showing the great friendship, special solidarity and increasingly deep comprehensive cooperation between the two brotherly countries of Laos and Vietnam.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone on the occasion of the ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Saudi Arabia, October 20, 2023. (Source: VNA)

Evidence of great friendship

At the invitation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone and his wife, along with a high-ranking delegation of the Lao Government, will pay an official visit to Vietnam and co-chair the 46th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Bilateral Cooperation Committee from January 6-7. President of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association and Lao Minister of Technology and Communications Boviengkham Vongdara shared with the press the importance and significance of the visit as well as cooperation between the two countries in the field of technology.

According to the Lao Minister of Information and Communications Technology, this is the first official visit of Comrade Sonexay Siphandone as Prime Minister of Laos and Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone chose Vietnam as the first country to visit officially. In early 2023, when Mr. Sonexay first took office as Prime Minister of Laos, he also welcomed Comrade Pham Minh Chinh on his first official visit to Laos as Prime Minister of the Government of Vietnam and the first foreign leader to visit Laos after the country had a new Prime Minister.

Lao Minister of Information and Communications Technology Boviengkham Vongdara. (Source: VNA)

"These are clear evidences showing that the great friendship, special solidarity and increasingly deep comprehensive cooperation between the two brotherly countries of Laos and Vietnam are always closely attached and always give the highest priority to each other," the Lao Minister of Technology and Communications emphasized.

The Lao Minister of Information and Communications said that within the framework of his official visit to Vietnam, in addition to meetings with the highest-ranking leaders of Vietnam, Prime Minister Sonexay will also co-chair with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh the 46th Meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee on Bilateral Cooperation; Attend the Laos-Vietnam Investment Cooperation Conference..., which will not only contribute to fostering the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries but also help promote socio-economic development and economic cooperation between the two countries, helping the bilateral relationship become increasingly deeper and more substantive, commensurate with the cooperation in the fields of politics and security and defense between the two sides.

"As Chairman of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association, I highly appreciate Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone's official visit to Vietnam this time," said the Lao Minister of Information and Communications Technology.

Minister Boviengkham Vongdara said: "We are living in the 4.0 era, so the application of new technology to life is extremely important for the socio-economic development of each country. In the field of digital technology, which is an important field with little sharing, Vietnamese comrades have sincerely helped the Lao Ministry of Technology and Communications."

According to the Lao Minister of Information and Communications, Vietnam chose Laos as the first country to sign the Digital Cooperation Partnership Agreement. After the two countries signed the agreement, the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communications helped Laos develop human resources, develop technical infrastructure, such as building a Cyber Security Center and helping build other platforms in the education sector... especially a distance education platform to bring educational knowledge via the internet to people in remote and disadvantaged areas of Laos...

"The projects I mentioned above not only demonstrate the close, sincere and close cooperation in the relationship between the two countries in general and in the technology sector in particular, but also contribute to helping Laos successfully implement the development of the communications sector and the country's digital transformation strategy in the future," said the Lao Minister of Information and Communications Technology.

Preserving and promoting heritage

To maintain, strengthen and further develop the relationship between the two countries, Minister Boviengkham Vongdara said that the most important thing that the two countries need to do in the future is to continue educating the political ideology of the younger generation, so that they can clearly understand the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Laos and Vietnam, Vietnam and Laos, thereby continuing to preserve and nurture the relationship, which has become the heritage of the two peoples, to increasingly bear fruit.

According to the Lao Minister of Information and Communications, in addition to educating the younger generation about the traditional relations between the two countries, the two sides also need to develop the economy together. Currently, the political and security-defense relations between the two countries are extremely good, however, cooperation in economic development is not commensurate with political and security-defense cooperation.

"Therefore, we need to propagate to businesses and entrepreneurs to understand and help each other invest and develop the economy, to make economic cooperation one of the solid pillars along with the political, security and defense pillars. This is what the Laos - Vietnam Friendship Association and the Vietnam - Laos Friendship Association have discussed and this year, we will organize a workshop to encourage Lao businesses to invest in Vietnam and vice versa", the Lao Minister of Technology and Communications emphasized.

In addition to strengthening economic cooperation, one of the other important areas in which Vietnam and Laos need to cooperate is in the fields of culture, society, human resource training and health. As President Ho Chi Minh once said: "For the benefit of ten years, we must plant trees, for the benefit of a hundred years, we must cultivate people", therefore, according to the Lao Minister of Technology and Communications, if Vietnam and Laos cooperate closely in the field of education and human resource training, increasing the number of Lao students studying in Vietnam, it will help the cooperative relationship between the two countries in the future to always be strong, in the direction of becoming more and more effective and lasting over time.

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