Vientiane (VNA) - Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung and his Laocounterpart Sonexay Siphandone have agreed to continuegiving top priority to promoting the sustainable development of bilateral cooperation,and promised to do their best for the effort.

During their talks in Vientiane on June 24 as part of activities of the Vietnamleader’s working visit to Laos on June 24 -25, the two sides reached agreementsto strengthen multifaceted cooperation between the two countries, especially insecurity-defence, and trade.

“Vietnamese people and leaders always wish that Laos would developstably and prosperously with higher position in the region and international arena,”Deputy PM Dung said.

The two sides expressed their joy at the fruitful development of thetraditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation betweenVietnam and Laos, while agreeing to well implement high-level agreements on bilateralcooperation reached at the 41st meeting ofthe Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee.

They agreed to maintain the exchange of visits and focus on sharinginformation, experience, and preparations for the Party congress in eachcountry in 2021.

Regarding security-defence cooperation, the two sides willcontinue to implement the agreement between thetwo governments on dealing with free migration and undocumented marriage alongthe shared border, and accelerate the signing of cooperative agreements onsecurity and justice.

They discussed measures to expand economic, trade and investment cooperation,focusing on ways to remove difficulties facing Vietnamese firms operating inLaos.

Statistics show that bilateral two-way trade in the first five months of 2019hit nearly 493 million USD, up 13.4 percent year-on-year.

Vietnam remains the third largest investor in Laos with 410 projects worth 4.22billion USD and Vietnamese companies have significantly contributed to socio-economicdevelopment of the neighbouring country.

Deputy PM Dung suggested the Lao side create more favourable conditions for Vietnameseenterprises to seek investment opportunities in Laos, especially investing inprojects in border areas, and soon organise the 2nd businessdialogue conference between the Lao PM and Vietnamese firms, which was delayedfrom December last year.

For his part, Lao Deputy PM SonexaySiphandone stressed the need for the two sides to expand and diversify tradepromotion activities, and promote the building and signing of a memorandum ofunderstanding or an agreement on developing and connecting border tradeinfrastructure in 2019, while reviewing and making adjustments to the Vietnam -Laos Trade Agreement and the Vietnam-Laos Border Trade Agreement signed in 2015.

He appreciated the Vietnamese Government's care about the construction of the new National Assembly House for Laos to ensure it meets the planned schedule.

The Lao Government always attaches importance to andfacilitate Vietnamese firms’ projects in Laos, especially key projects onhydroelectricity, mining and infrastructure, he said.

The two sides agreed to enhance cooperation on education and human resourcesdevelopment, focusing on building strategies in the field for the 2020-2030 period.

They discussed cooperation at international forums, and pledged to strengthenties in sub-region cooperation mechanisms such as the Greater Mekong Sub-region(GMS), the Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam (CLV), the Cambodia-Laos-Myanmar-Vietnam(CLMV), and the Ayeyarwady-Chao Phraya-Mekong (ACMECS).

Deputy PM Dung took the occasion to thank Laos for having active support forVietnam’s non-permanent membership on the UN Security Council for 2020-2021 andasked for the country’s active coordination when Vietnam takes the ASEAN Chairin 2020.

After their talks, the Vietnamese and Lao leader witnessed the signing of apower purchase agreement between the VietnamElectricity (EVN) and Phongsubthavy Group Co., Ltd of Laos.

Later on the day, Deputy PM Dung had a meeting with Lao NationalAssembly Vice Chairman Somphanh Phengkhammy on the project on the building ofthe new National Assembly House of Laos, which is a giftfrom the Party, State and people of Vietnam.  

Visiting theconstruction site, Deputy PM Dung urged relevant agencies of the two countriesto make greater effort to complete the work on schedule.-VNA