Vietnam, Laos NAs promote cooperation

• Photographic exhibition on Vietnam-Laos special friendship

Laos encourages Vietnamese investment

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vietnamese NA Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung welcomed his Lao counterpart, Pany Yathotu, and her entourage to the conference and conveyed his best wishes to the Lao people on their Bunpimay festival.

He emphasized the significance of this year’s conference, saying it marks the 50^th anniversary of diplomatic ties and 35^th anniversary of the signing of the Friendship and Co-operation Treaty.

Lao NA President Pany Yathotu said the event offers an opportunity for both nations to review the strong ties, friendship, solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States, and peoples, which were founded by the late Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Cayson Phomvihan and nurtured by their successors.

She said that over the past decades Laos and Vietnam have joined hands to attain great achievements and feats of arms during their struggles for national independence, which makes their bilateral relationship an invaluable heritage.

We are proud to see that despite regional and international complications, the special friendship and comprehensive cooperation between Laos and Vietnam has developed substantially, for prosperity and happiness of the two nations, said Ms Yathotu.

The Lao Party, State and people will continue working together with Vietnam to foster their traditional relationship and special solidarity to make mutually beneficial and comprehensive cooperation more effective, Ms Yathotu stressed.

On behalf of the Lao Party, State and people, she expressed gratitude for Vietnam’s assistance to Laos during its revolutionary cause.

The Vietnamese people have always stood side by side with Laos, helping it to achieve victory over foreign imperialists and reap achievements on its path to socialism, she said.

At the plenary session after the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Lao counterpart Somsavad Lengsavad highlighted the effective bilateral cooperation between the two countries since they signed the 1977 Friendship and Co-operation Treaty.

They also proposed measures to fully tap their potential for mutual benefit, especially by raising awareness of their relationship and strengthening cooperation in all fields.