Son La to host Vietnam-Laos border culture exchange

Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Huynh Vinh Ai said at a press conference in Hanoi on June 27 that the event is a special activity to celebrate the 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Laos and 40 years since the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC). 

The event will be attended by about 100 participants from ten Lao provinces and 900 from nine Vietnamese cities and provinces.

The Deputy Minister said the exchange aims to affirm the time-honoured friendship and solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, as well as Vietnam’s consistent policy on maintaining and strengthening the special relations between the two Parties, States and their people, he added. 

During the event, a ceremony will be held to confer the Vietnamese President’s Order to 88 senior officials of Laos, said Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Pham Van Thuy. 

A memorial site of Vietnam-Laos revolution will be inaugurated in Lao Kho village, Phieng Khoai commune, Yen Chau district. The site was where Lao revolutionary leader Kaysone Phomvihane and the North Laos vanguard team stayed in 1948-1950.

The exchange – the second of its kind, will include a range of cultural, sport and tourism activities, such as shows of ethnic costumes, demonstrations of local festivals, and traditional cultural activities of ethnic groups.  

Vietnam and Laos share a border line of 2,067 km which runs across 10 Vietnamese provinces: Dien Bien, Son La, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam and Kon Tum. Laos also has 10 provinces bordering Vietnam, which are: Luang Prabang, Houaphan, Attapeu, Sekong, Xieng Khouang, Bolykhamsay, Khammouane, Savanakhet, Salavan, and Phongsaly.