NA Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue (L) and General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith (Photo: VNA)Speaking to Vietnam News Agency following the visit, Ha saidthat senior leader of Laos highly valued the first visit by Hue as theVietnamese top legislator during the Vietnam-Laos, Laos-Vietnam Solidarity and FriendshipYear 2022, making him the first foreign parliament leader to visit Laos duringthe ninth tenure of the Lao NA.
The Lao side congratulated Vietnam on its achievements in socio-economicdevelopment and pandemic control, and informed the Vietnamese leader on Laos’socio-economic targets and tasks as well as its action plan to deal withCOVID-19 impacts and boost socio-economic development, he said.
Ha underlined that NA Chairman Hue’s visit sent out a messagethat the Vietnamese Party, State, NA and people always have understanding of andsharing with Laos with a spirit of comradeship, brotherhood and mutual support,and Vietnam always stand by the side of, accompanies and assists Laos toovercome all challenges for further development.
Ha noted that during the visit, NA Chairman Hue and the Vietnamesedelegation conducted 27 official activities, including talks between the NAleader and his Lao counterpart Saysomphone Phomvihane.
At the talks and meetings, leaders of the two countries had substantialand deep discussions on cooperation between the two parliaments and twocountries as well as regional and international issues of shared concern.
Both sides agreed to work closely in effectively implementing the cooperationagreements reached between the two NAs during the visit for the 2022-2026 period,while increasing delegation exchanges between the two NAs and NA agencies andwell as parliamentarians’ groups and the People’s Councils of localities sharingthe border and twin relations.
Chairman of the NA Committee for External Relations Vu Hai Ha (Photo: VNA)They also consented to coordinate with the National Assemblyof Cambodia to continue improving the process and procedures to upgrade themechanism of cooperation among the legislatures of the three countries to theNA Chairman-chaired level.
Particularly, Ha said that the Lao NA leader expressed hopeto learn from Vietnam’s experience in Party affairs in NA operation, ensuringthe Party leadership over NA operations.
The two NA leaders witnessed the signing and exchange of anumber of cooperation documents, including the Cooperation Agreement betweenthe Office of the National Assembly of Vietnam and the Office of the NationalAssembly of Laos and the working minutes on electricity purchase from Laos.
NA Chairman Hue also visited Champasak province where he met Secretary of theprovincial Party Committee and Governor of Champasak Vilayvong Bouddakham, andlaid a wreath at the monument commemorating martyrs of the Laos-Vietnam CombatAlliance. He also visited the Vietnam-Laos rubber company, the provincialboarding school for ethnic minority students, and the Consulate General of Vietnam, and met representatives of the Vietnamese community, Vietnamese businesses investingin four southern provinces of Laos.
Besides the activities of the NA Chairman, delegationmembers also conducted 10 meetings and bilateral exchanges with the respectiveagencies and partners of Laos. The exchanges all had substantive andcomprehensive contents, demonstrating their determination of urgentlyimplementing high-level agreements in 2022, said Ha.
Regarding the outcomes of the conference co-chaired by thetwo NAs to share the experience on mechanisms and policies supportingpost-pandemic socio-economic recovery and development, Ha said thatparticipants shared their experience in performing the role of a legislature inbuilding laws to promote the national socio-economic recovery and developmentafter the COVID-19 to suit the conditions in each country.
The Lao sides highly valued Vietnam’s experience in approving support packages.NA Chairman Hue proposed that the two sides hold another conference in Vietnamto seek measures to boost the recovery process together.
On the special mechanisms to create more favourable conditionsfor Vietnamese businesses investing in Laos, Ha said that at the meeting withthe Vietnamese community in Laos, NA Chairman Hue, Lao Deputy Prime Minister SonexaySiphandon and Lao NA Vice Chairman Sommad Pholsena listened to opinionsand requests of the community. They affirmed that Vietnamese-funded projects havemade positive contributions to promoting socio-economic development of Laos.They pledged to direct relevant agencies to make suitable policies andmechanisms to create more favourable conditions for Vietnamese businessesoperating in the neighbouring countries.
Vietnam is the third largest investor in Laos. The Lao side held that despitea rise of 33 percent year on year in two-way trade in 2021 to 1.2 billion USD,the figure has yet to meet the potential of cooperation between the twocountries and accounted for a too small rate in the trade revenue of eachcountry.
Both sides agreed on the need to design breakthrough measures to accelerate bilateraleconomic, trade and investment cooperation, making it match the sound specialpolitical ties between the two countries, as well as the necessity to continueto design effective solutions to ease difficulties facing Vietnam businesses inLaos./.
VNA
