Mai, who is also a member of theParty Central Committee and Standing Vice Secretary of the HCM City PartyCommittee, made the remark during a meeting on April 9 with Bounchom Ubonpaseuth,a member of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee,Secretary of the LPRP Committee of Savannakhet, and Governor of the province –one of the three Lao units paired with HCM City.
Ubonpaseuth highly valued the closecooperation in multiple spheres between the two localities and thanked HCM Cityfor assisting his province to build a teleconference room and coordinating tosuccessfully hold activities of the Vietnam - Laos and Laos - Vietnam Solidarityand Friendship Year 2022.
He introduced the five relic sites ofleaders in Savannakhet, including the one of late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh, noting that it holds great significance and his province hopes to develop it into atourism area to help educate visitors on the two countries’ relations.
Savannakhethopes to organise a conference on post-pandemic investment, trade and tourism cooperation,he said, adding that located on the East - West Corridor linking Vietnam, Laos,and Thailand and boasting tourism advantages, it is calling for investment to tourism infrastructure and services.
The host official also highly valuedHCM City’s cooperation programme on human resources training and scholarshipsfor Savannakhet students.
Atthe meeting, Mai offered HCM City leaders’ greetings on the traditional NewYear festival of Laos.
Both host and guest agreed to hold aninvestment, trade, and tourism conference between HCM City and Savannakhet aswell as other Lao localities at an early date.
They also agreed to expand existing joint programmesand add three cooperation contents, namely restoring historical relic sites intandem with boosting cultural tourism; health care, including manpower training,preventive medicine management, and hospital and grassroots healthcare experiencesharing; and agricultural development./.