Signing of Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Agreement between the Department of Justice of Nghe An and Xieng Khouang (Laos)

On the side of the Nghe An Department of Justice, the delegation was welcomed by Ms. Hoang Thi Thu Trang - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Justice. On the side of the Department of Justice of Xieng Khouang province (Laos), there was Mr. Monti Sioudom - Director of the Department of Justice, and representatives of the members of the working delegation.

Nghe An is a province with a land border adjacent to 3 provinces: Xieng Khouang, Hua Phan, Bo-Ly-Kham-Xay of Laos. Promoting the good relationship and friendship between the two countries, in recent years, Nghe An has always focused on and nurtured friendly and cooperative relations with provinces and localities of Laos, especially the 3 provinces that share a border. Every year, Nghe An and the 3 provinces take turns organizingAnnual High-Level Delegation Conferenceand at the same time signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in all fields, including the judicial field.

In particular, on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation between the Ministries of Justice of the two countries, every year, the Nghe An Department of Justice has issued a plan to disseminate and educate the law in the area, focusing on implementing the content of disseminating the law, raising awareness and sense of law compliance for ethnic minorities living in the Vietnam - Laos border area; focusing on disseminating legal documents related to policies on ethnicity, nationality, supporting development, improving the material life and knowledge of the people, legal documents related to crime prevention and control. The content of propaganda, dissemination and education of the law is always selected appropriately so that people can easily absorb and easily implement and comply, especially for Lao people who have been granted Vietnamese nationality.

Implementing the Agreement signed on July 8, 2013 between the two Governments on resolving the issue of spontaneous migration and unregistered marriages in the border areas of Vietnam and Laos, in 3 years (from 2019-2021), the border districts coordinated with the Department of Justice of Nghe An to carry out procedures to request the President to grant Vietnamese nationality to 201 Lao people, at the same time, allowing 185/201 cases to register their household; registering births for 185/201 cases and registering marriages for 172/201 cases.

However, because most of the districts in Nghe An bordering Laos have rugged mountainous terrain, difficult transportation, and limited education levels, especially for migrants who often do not know Vietnamese, the transmission of legal information to the people is not very effective. The procedures for household registration and issuance of identification documents still have many shortcomings.

At the seminar, representatives of the two Departments of Justice of Nghe An and Xieng Khouang also agreed to create favorable conditions for the justice departments of districts sharing the border to enhance professional cooperation, provide legal support to the people of the two provinces, disseminate and popularize the law, collect information on illegal immigration and unregistered marriages. The two departments agreed to take turns hosting the Conference to exchange experiences every 3 years. Continue to coordinate and exchange experiences in the management of nationality, civil status, notarization, building and organizing law enforcement in the judicial fields and judicial tasks.

The two sides also agreed to coordinate with relevant agencies of both sides to resolve and limit the situation of illegal migration and unregistered marriages in border areas; and coordinate to effectively resolve cases of illegal migration and entry that require repatriation.

At the seminar, the Department of Justice of Nghe An and Xieng Khouang provinces signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation Agreement for the period 2023-2028. After the seminar, the signed contents will also be reported to the Ministry of Justice of both sides for monitoring and direction.