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VN, Laos vow to raise bilateral trade by at least 10% in 2019

VGP – PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith have agreed to lift up the two-way trade value by 10% this year.

January 06, 2019 4:51 PM GMT+7

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc (R) shakes hands with Lao PM Thongloun Sisoulith in Ha Noi on January 6, 2019 before co-chairing the 41st meeting of the Viet Nam-Laos Inter-governmental Committee. Photo: VGP

The pair reached the above agreement at the 41st meeting of the Viet Nam-Laos Inter-governmental Committee in Ha Noi on Sunday.

Last year, the bilateral trade increased by 14% to over US$1 billion, according to statistical data from the Vietnamese side.

The two Government chiefs also vowed to further strengthen experience exchanges in macro-economic and sustainable development policy-making process and increase connectivity between the two economies.

In terms of investment, Vietnamese businesses have pledged to pour around US$4.1 billion in 411 projects while the disbursed volume accounted for 43% of the total registered capital.

The two leaders agreed to step up education cooperation through raising the number of scholarships for Lao students to more than 14,200 this year.

At multilateral aspect, the two PMs agreed to continue close coordination and mutual support at regional and international forums and join hands to deepen ASEAN cooperation and connectivity process.

Both sides pledged to work together to enhance ASEAN’s solidarity, centrality and common voice over the regional strategic issues, effectively and sustainably manage and use the Mekong water resources.

Lao PM Thongloun Sisoulith affirmed his country backs Viet Nam – the only candidate of the Asia-Pacific region - to win a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council in the 2020-2021 tenure.

He underlined that the increasingly substantial outcomes of the bilateral cooperation have significantly contributed to consolidating and enhancing the friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two neighbors.

Following the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony of six cooperation documents, including an agreement under which Viet Nam will freely grant 300 tons of rice seed to Laos.

 Viet Nam and Laos established diplomatic ties in 1962-2017 and signed Treaty on cooperation and amity in 1997.

The two sides also have worked together to implement effectively cooperation agreements on security and defense as well as strengthened locality-to-locality collaboration, especially in the shared border areas, in building infrastructure, providing health care, developing human resources, and ensuring order and security in border areas.

In 2017, both sides completed a project on increasing and upgrading border markers along their boundary in addition to signing a protocol on the Viet Nam-Laos borderline and national border markers, and an agreement on management regulations of the shared border and border gates.

Also in 2017, Viet Nam and Laos signed a new trade agreement and a border trade deal. 

The two countries continued to promote the implementation of an agreement between the two governments on dealing with undocumented migration and marriages along the shared border.
They also worked together to seek and gather thousands sets of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who laid down their lives during wartime in Laos.

* The same day, PM Thongloun Sisoulith  also made a courtesy call on Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong and met with top legislator Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan./.

By Quang Minh