Vientiane (VNA) – The first high-level meeting amongthe National Assemblies (NA) of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam (CLV), to be heldin Vientiane in the next few days, aims to enhance the friendship, solidarity,and comprehensive cooperation among the three countries, including their legislativebodies, Vice Chairwoman of the Lao NA Sounthone Xayachak said.

In arecent interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency, Xayachak said it is anhonour for the Lao NA to host the first high-level meeting, an important event inthe histories of the three NAs.

Since 2009,the three NAs have rotationally held annual committee-level meetings such asthose among the committees for external relations; defence -security; and planning, finance, and auditing. At the sixth sessionof the committees for external relations in Laos in 2018, they agreed to holdtheir meeting biennially.

From October 17 to 21,2022, the three committees for external relations held a consultation to discussthe organisation of a high-level meeting among the three NAs. Also last year, thethree NA leaders signed a joint statement approving the upgrade of thecommittee-level meeting to the one at the NA chairperson level so that thethree legislative bodies’ relations will match the cooperation mechanisms amongthe Parties and Governments of the CLV countries, and agreed that the Laoparliament will host the first, she noted.

The official said the cominghigh-level meeting is intended to promote the NAs’ role in supervising,encouraging, and stepping up the implementation of the cooperation agreements,programmes, and projects signed among the CLV Governments, along with themultilateral deals to which the three countries are parties. It will boost thesharing of information, experience, and lessons about activities and the rolesof the NAs. The event will also discuss and integrate the targets of the CLV DevelopmentTriangle Area into socio-economic development plans of the countries and theirlocalities through the state budget allocation and the mobilisation of investmentfrom domestic sources and international development partners to the DevelopmentTriangle Area and others.

The meeting, which willfocus on strengthening the parliaments’ role in promoting comprehensive cooperationamong Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, will look into three cooperation fields,namely politics - diplomacy; economy, culture, and society; and defence -security,she continued.

Suggesting measures for enhancingcooperation to boost the countries’ economic integration to secure sustainabledevelopment, Xayachak held that the three NAsshould work together to accelerate the implementation of the cooperationagreements, programmes, and projects signed among the CLV Governments, as wellas the multilateral deals to which their countries are parties. They shouldpress on with the partnerships in economic, trade, investment, health care,education, culture, tourism, and other potential fields; develop fundamentalinfrastructure; and properly build and perfect relevant legal regulations tofacilitate trading activities and people-to-people exchanges to reinforcesolidarity and mutual support among the three peoples.

The parliaments need tokeep strengthening defence - security cooperation to guarantee borders ofpeace, friendship, and sustainable development cooperation. They should alsocontinue encouraging the legislators of the provinces located in theDevelopment Triangle Area to share opinions and monitor and report outstandingand urgent problems to the three countries’ NAs and Governments.

The official pointedout the need to establish NA friendship committees at the local level in theCLV Development Triangle Area and rotationally host annual meetings toreview the implementation of cooperation agreements in the area. Besides, it isalso necessary to step up mutual visits by leaders of governmental andlegislative agencies to turn the Development Triangle Area into an area ofpeace, friendship, and sustainable development cooperation./.