The pledges were made by Nguyen Xuan Duong, Party Secretary and People's Council Chairman of the Vietnamese province, during his recent meeting with Champasak provincial Party Secretary Sucan Mahalath, who is also a member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee.

Mr Duong said the training aims to help the Lao sister province successfully host the coming 8^th national sports festival. Binh Dinh province also offered assistance in coffee and tea farming.

Binh Dinh and Champasak have enjoyed traditional relations, especially cooperation in agriculture under a trial project of growing rice and maize hybrids launched by Binh Dinh province. The Vietnamese province has also trained 50 officials and annually granted 10 scholarships for students from the Lao province, in addition to regular exchanges of cultural programmes and art delegations.