Nghe An Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duc Trung received the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Lao People's Democratic Republic to Vietnam.

Also receiving the delegation were comrades: Ngoc Kim Nam - Member of the Standing Committee, Head of the Provincial Party Committee's Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Department; Phung Thanh Vinh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; Nguyen Dinh Hung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Chief of the Provincial Party Committee Office; Tran Khanh Thuc - Director of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Comrade Khamphao Ernthavanh - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Lao People's Democratic Republic to Vietnam expressed his special feelings and joy when visiting Nghe An province, the hometown of beloved President Ho Chi Minh; and at the same time sincerely thanked the Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee for the warm and respectful welcome.

Emphasizing the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Lao People's Democratic Republic to Vietnam highly appreciated the cooperative relationship between Nghe An province and other provinces and cities of Laos, thereby actively contributing to the good relationship between the two Parties, two States and peoples of the two countries.

Vietnam in general and Nghe An province in particular have supported Laos in training cadres, thereby contributing to the development of Laos. In addition, Nghe An province and other provinces of Laos have had cooperative relationships in many fields, achieving many important results.

Informing about the socio-economic situation of Laos, as well as the cooperation between Laos and Vietnam in recent times, Ambassador Khamphao Ernthavanh sincerely thanked Vietnam for always supporting and sharing with the Lao people in the most difficult times, which is the sincere and wholehearted help that Vietnam has given to Laos.

Ambassador Khamphao Ernthavanh congratulated and highly appreciated the great development achievements of Vietnam in general and Nghe An province in particular, especially since July 1, Vietnam has entered a historic period when implementing the revolution of streamlining the apparatus and implementing the 2-level local government model. He wished that the loyal and pure relationship between Laos and Vietnam would become increasingly strong and developed.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duc Trung respectfully thanked and expressed his pleasure to welcome Ambassador Khamphao Ernthavanh and his delegation to visit Nghe An province - the homeland of beloved President Ho Chi Minh.

Congratulating Laos on its economic development results, the Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee also shared general information and socio-economic development results and Party building of Nghe An province since the beginning of the term, especially in the first 6 months of 2025.

From the end of 2024 to now, Nghe An, together with the whole country, has resolutely and seriously carried out the revolution of restructuring and streamlining the apparatus, reorganizing commune-level administrative units and building a 2-level local government organization model according to the Party and State's policies.

Nghe An has reorganized from 412 communes and wards to 130 communes and wards and ended the operation of 20 district-level administrative units. This reorganization aims to build a streamlined, efficient, effective, and effective apparatus and create space for development, bringing the government closer to the people, serving the people's needs better.

Sharing the cooperative relationship between Nghe An and Lao localities, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duc Trung affirmed that, on the basis of the special and loyal traditional relationship between the two Parties, two States and the people of the two countries, Nghe An province determined that strengthening cooperative relations with Lao localities is an important political task, comprehensively implemented on all three pillars: Party diplomacy, State diplomacy and People's diplomacy.

Nghe An regularly organizes delegation exchange activities, learning experiences in Party building, building the state management apparatus; People's Council activities, economic development with Lao localities. Nghe An currently has about 20 enterprises investing in Laos with a total capital of more than 86 million USD.

Since 2018, Nghe An has received nearly 1,600 Lao students and officials to study. The province has also actively coordinated to upgrade border gate infrastructure, promoting border trade through routes and border gates: Thanh Thuy - Nam On sub-border gate, Thong Thu - Nam Tay sub-border gate.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duc Trung said that in the coming time, Nghe An will be assigned by the Central Government to be the investor of the Vinh - Thanh Thuy expressway project, which is part of the Hanoi - Vientiane expressway. This is an important route in promoting political, economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, creating momentum for the development of the North Central region and connecting with the East - West economic corridors, especially from Laos, Northeast Thailand to Cua Lo port.

We would like to express our sincere thanks for the attention and support of the Ambassador and the Lao Embassy in Vietnam for the cooperative relationship between Nghe An province and Lao localities. In the coming time, the Provincial Party Secretary hopes that the Ambassador will continue to support and create conditions for Nghe An to effectively implement the signed cooperation contents with Lao localities.

Continue to create conditions to enhance economic cooperation between Nghe An and Lao localities. Nghe An province will continue to help and support Lao provinces in training human resources; at the same time, request Laos to pay attention to supporting Lao language training for Nghe An province's officials.

The two sides need to continue to promote propaganda and mobilize border residents to strictly comply with border regulations; coordinate to prevent and combat free migration, illegal proselytizing, drug trafficking, human trafficking and cross-border crimes to maintain border security; support the search and collection of remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos...

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Duc Trung wished the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos to continue to develop, stay green forever and be sustainable forever.