The joint statement said the two countries will strengthen ties in security and national defence, public and social stability and in the fight against cross-border crime and drug smuggling.

The two sides will further work together in locating, exhuming and repatriating remains of Vietnamese soldiers who laid down their lives on the Lao soil.

Greater efforts will be made to turn the Vietnam-Laos border into one of peace, friendship, cooperation, comprehensive and long-term development and speed up a project to strengthen and upgrade the land border marker system as committed.

The two sides discussed main orientations towards the needs of a strategy for joint cooperation in the 2011-20 period aimed at encouraging enterprises of all economic sectors from the two countries to invest in trade, transport, energy, mining, oil and gas, post and telecommunications, tourism, industrial crop cultivation and processing and other key economic areas. The cooperation projects will be based on demands from the two countries and focused on improving quality and efficiency that should contribute to technical personnel training and poverty reduction.

Focus should also be paid to the expansion of the border gate economy system through investments in infrastructure facilities on transport, post and telecommunications, energy, services and tourism to strengthen ties between the two countries.

All this is to bring two-way trade revenues to US$1 billion and Vietnamese investments in Laos to US$2 billion by 2010. To this, the two countries will create best possible conditions for ministries, industries and enterprises, especially those at grassroots level, to boost investments, trade and production in each country so as to contribute to poverty alleviation. Vietnam is committed to providing most favourable conditions for Laos to transport its goods via Vietnamese seaports.

The two sides will boost cooperation in education and training, improve the training quality and living conditions for the trainees. The two sides will continue with projects on Vietnamese and Lao language training in both countries and exchange experts of different areas.

The two sides will speed up programmes of cooperation and exchange of experiences in a large number of areas, ranging from agriculture to forestry, aquaculture, metrological and hydrological services, environmental protection, natural resource management and health care. They will also promote cooperation in culture, arts, press coverage, publications, television and radio broadcasting and hold Vietnamese culture weeks in Laos and vice versa.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at the achievements recorded in diplomatic activities and agreed to boost exchanges of information and coordination of action at international and regional forums as well as in multi-lateral organisations.