Cambodia - Laos National Assembly Summit

In the coming days, the capital city of Vientiane, Lao PDR, will host the first Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV) Summit. This is an extremely important event of historic significance in the relationship between the three countries' parliaments.

Vice President of the Lao National Assembly Sounthone Xayachak.

On this occasion, VNA reporters in Vientiane interviewed Vice Chairwoman of the Lao National Assembly, Ms. Sounthone Xayachak, about the objectives, significance and importance of the conference, as well as the main contents that the conference will discuss. The following is the content of the interview.

Could the Vice Chairman of the National Assembly please tell us about the significance and importance of the first meeting between the Chairmen of the National Assemblies of the three countries? Why did the National Assemblies of the three countries upgrade the meeting of the three Foreign Affairs Committees to a meeting of the three Chairmen of the National Assemblies?

We are honored that the Lao National Assembly was chosen to host the first Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Summit. This is an important conference in the history of our three countries' National Assemblies.

Previously, since 2009, the three National Assemblies have taken turns chairing annual Committee-level meetings such as: 1) Foreign Affairs Committee; 2) National Defense and Security Committee; and 3) Planning, Finance and Audit Committee. In 2018, Laos chaired the 6th CLV National Assembly Foreign Affairs Committee meeting and the three sides agreed to hold the meeting every two years.

Then, on October 17-21, 2022, the three Foreign Affairs Committees of the CLV National Assembly held a consultation meeting to jointly study and approve the regulations for organizing the CLV National Assembly Summit. In 2022, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the three Chairmen of the National Assembly of Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam signed a Joint Statement approving the upgrading of the meeting from the committee level to the National Assembly Chairman level to suit the cooperation mechanism in terms of the Parties and Governments of the three countries and agreed to assign the Lao National Assembly to chair the organization of this first conference.

The agreement of the Chairmen of the National Assemblies of the three countries to upgrade the meeting from the Committee level to the Chairman level of the National Assembly aims to help the relationship between the three parliaments to be consistent with the cooperation mechanism of the Party and Government channels of the three countries. This will be a coordination mechanism to discuss ways to make the relationship between the three countries more effective, consistent with the historical relationship when our three countries stood side by side, shared the good and the bad, and fought together against the common enemy to gain lasting independence for the country.

Could you please tell us what the Chairmen of the National Assemblies of the three countries will discuss at this meeting to further strengthen the role of the National Assemblies of the three countries in supervising the activities of the Governments of the three countries in particular and in further strengthening the special friendship between the three countries?

The purpose of this Summit of the National Assemblies of the three countries is to strengthen and consolidate the friendship, solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the three countries in general and between the three legislative bodies in particular; Enhance the role of the National Assembly in supervising, encouraging and promoting the implementation of agreements, programs and cooperation projects signed by the Governments of the three countries as well as multilateral agreements to which the three countries are members; Promote the exchange and dissemination of information, experiences and lessons on the activities and roles of the CLV National Assemblies; Research, discuss and connect the goals of the Development Triangle region to the socio-economic development plans of the country and localities through the allocation of the state budget, mobilizing domestic investment and international development partners in the Development Triangle region and other regions.

This summit will be held under the theme "Strengthening the role of Parliament in promoting comprehensive cooperation between Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam". The conference will focus on studying and discussing three areas of cooperation: political and foreign affairs cooperation; economic, cultural and social cooperation; and defense and security cooperation.

According to the Vice President, what should the three countries' National Assemblies do to strengthen cooperation between the state and parliament in promoting economic linkages between Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam towards the goal of sustainable and inclusive development?

To strengthen cooperation to promote economic integration between Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam, achieving the sustainable development strategy, in my opinion, in the coming time we should continue to promote cooperation between the three countries' National Assemblies by focusing on the following issues: (1) Together promote the implementation of many agreements, programs, and cooperation projects that the three countries' governments have signed as well as multilateral agreements to which the three countries are members; (2) Continue to promote cooperation in economics, trade, investment, health, education, culture, tourism and other potential areas; Focus on developing basic infrastructure; build and perfect relevant legal regulations appropriately to facilitate trade activities and people-to-people exchanges, in order to strengthen solidarity and support among the people of the three countries; (3) Continue to promote cooperation in defense and security work, ensuring that the border is a border of peace, friendship and sustainable development cooperation; (4) Continue to promote the National Assembly deputies in the provinces in the Development Triangle Area to exchange opinions, monitor and summarize outstanding and urgent issues, and submit them to the National Assembly and the Governments of the three countries for resolution; (5) Establish a local-level National Assembly Friendship Committee in the Cambodia - Laos - Vietnam Development Triangle Area, through taking turns chairing annual meetings to review the implementation of cooperation agreements in the area; (6) Promote the exchange of visits by leaders of all levels of government agencies and legislative bodies, aiming to turn the Development Triangle Area into an area of peace, friendship and sustainable cooperation for development.

As we know, the National Assembly is the body representing the rights and interests of the people, so the content that this summit will discuss is very important because the three parliaments will represent the people of the three countries to continue promoting the implementation of the agreements that the three governments have signed with each other, so as to bring about the highest efficiency.

Thank you very much, Vice President of the National Assembly.

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