State President Nguyen Minh Triet, his wife and entourage concluded the official friendship visit to Laos on February 7.

The same day, Mr Triet visited Laos’ northern Xieng Khouang province which shares borderline with Vietnam’s central Nghe An province.

The central Vietnamese provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh have maintained close relations with Xieng Khouang province where a number of Vietnamese enterprises have invested in such areas as wood processing, safe water supply and small-scale hydroelectric power generation.

The Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee informed Mr Triet of the province’s socio-economic development situation and emphasized that people in Xieng Khouang province will never forget the sacrifice and contributions of Vietnamese voluntary soldiers who died in Laos during wars.

For his part, Mr Triet said Vietnamese people will continue to stand side by side with Lao people to build Lao into a rich and strong nation.

In the afternoon, the Vietnamese President visited the Khang Khay Teachers’ College which trains junior and higher education teachers for northern Lao provinces.

Earlier, at a ceremony to bid fare well to Mr Triet, Lao President Choummaly Sayasone affirmed that Mr Triet’s visit has made a great success, helping further develop the Vietnam-Laos relations of time-honoured friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation for the sake of peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and the world.

Before leaving Xieng Khouang for Hanoi, State President Nguyen Minh Triet and his wife visited the Chum field-one of Laos’ valuable heritages recognised by the UNESCO as the world’s heritage.

During his stay in Laos,  Mr Triet donated VND3 billion to Luong Nam Tha province, VND2 billion to Xieng Khouang province and VND1 billion to the Khang Khay Teachers’ College to help it build education and training centres.

On this occasion, Vietnam and Laos issued a joint communiqué in Vientiane.

The joint communiqué says State President Nguyen Minh Triet and his wife paid an official visit to Laos from February 5-7 at the invitation of Lao President Choummaly.

During the visit, State President Triet laid a wreath at the Monument to Unknown Lao Soldiers, met with Prime Minister Buason Bupphavan, National Assembly Chairman Thongsing Thammavong, and National Construction Front President Sisavath Keobounphanh and visited families of former President Kham Tay Siphandone, former advisor to the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Nuhak Phumsawan, President Kayson Phomvihane, the Memorial House of President Suphanuvong and the Vientiane National University. He also attended the Vietnam-Laos Business Forum.

Mr Triet witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Lao National Sport Committee and the Vietnam Committee for Sports and Physical Training. He attended a ceremony to cut the red ribbon to inaugurate a school for pre-eparture and ethnic gifted students which was funded by the Vietnamese Government and a ceremony to mark the first broadcast of Vietnam Television Channel 4’s programmes using Lao subtitles.

In Xieng Khouang province, the Vietnamese State President met with the local authorities and people and visited the Khang Khay Teachers’ College and the Chum field.

Presidents Triet and Chummaly Sayasone informed each other of the respective country’s situation and discussed international and regional issues of common concern as well as measures to further promote the relations between the two Parties and States in the coming time.

President Chummaly Sayasone described Mr Triet’s visit as an important contribution to further boosting the relations of time-honoured friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos. He expressed his appreciation for the tremendous achievements Vietnamese people have recorded in the Doi Moi (Renovation) process and hoped that under the clear-sighted leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Vietnamese people will obtain greater achievements in the cause of national construction and development towards the goals of a rich people, a strong country and an equal, democratic and civilised society so that Vietnam will become an industrially developed country by 2020. 

The two presidents were delighted to see that the Vietnam-Laos relations of traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive co-operation have been unceasingly developed in the fields of politics, economics, culture, security, national defence and external relations.  They said bilateral cooperation has made substantial progress in such areas as trade, investment, transport, hydro electric power generation, mineral exploitation and industrial crop cultivation.

They underscored the need to further consolidate the special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in the face of the fast changing international and regional situations and described this as an important factor in the success of national construction and defense. They agreed that regular meetings between the two countries’ high-ranking leaders are an important factor in the success of national construction and defense. In that spirit, they reaffirmed their determination to effectively implement cooperation agreements aimed at bringing bilateral relations to a higher plane.

The two sides agreed to intensify promulgation and education activities so that the two countries’ people, especially youths can better understand about the special solidarity and cooperation relations between Vietnam and Laos. The two sides will join hands to celebrate the 45^th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties and the 30^th anniversary of the signing of the Friendship and Cooperation Agreement between the two countries.

President Nguyen Minh Triet and President Chummaly Sayasone expressed their delight at the effective results of mutual assistance and cooperation in foreign affairs at international and regional forums, including the United Nations, Francophone, Non-Aligned Movement, ASEAN, and ASEM, especially of implementing East-West Corridor projects and strengthening cooperation in the Mekong Sub-region, the Mekong Commission and ACMECS, as well as between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam. The two Presidents agreed to further cooperate with Cambodia to successfully build the development triangle between Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

The joint communiqué  says Vietnam will support Lao’s participation in regional and international organisations such as APEC and the WTO and Laos will support Vietnam’s non-permanent membership in the United Nation Security Council for the 2008-2009 term.

State President Nguyen Minh Triet invited Lao President Chummaly Sayasone and his wife to visit Vietnam and his invitation was accepted with great pleasure, the communiqué concludes.