The National Assembly Chairman presided over the welcoming ceremony and held talks with the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Lao PDR.

At the invitation of Politburo member and National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue, on the morning of December 6, Politburo member of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and Chairman of the National Assembly of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR) Xaysomphone Phomvihane led a high-ranking delegation of the Lao National Assembly and his wife on an official visit to Vietnam.

On the same morning, at the National Assembly House, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and his wife hosted an official welcoming ceremony for the Lao National Assembly Chairman, his wife and the high-ranking delegation of the Lao National Assembly. Immediately after the welcoming ceremony, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue and National Assembly Chairman Xaysomphone Phomvihane led the high-ranking delegations of the two countries' National Assembly to hold talks.

On behalf of the leadership of the Vietnamese National Assembly, National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue warmly welcomed and welcomed National Assembly Chairman Xaysomphone Phomvihane on his official visit to Vietnam; highly appreciated the fact that National Assembly Chairman Xaysomphone Phomvihane chose Vietnam as the first country to visit in his capacity as Chairman of the Lao National Assembly and the first international delegation of the Vietnamese National Assembly after a long interruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The visit is an important milestone in continuing to consolidate and promote the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States and Peoples in general, and between the two National Assemblies in particular, to become increasingly substantive and effective.

National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue affirmed that the consistent policy of the Party and State of Vietnam always attaches importance to and gives the highest priority to preserving and promoting the close, special, and unique relationship between Vietnam and Laos. Vietnam always wholeheartedly and strongly supports the cause of innovation, protection and construction of Laos.

Lao National Assembly Chairman Xaysomphone Phomvihane said this was his first foreign visit since assuming the role of Chairman of the Lao National Assembly; he believed the visit would continue to strengthen and promote the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, two States and peoples of Laos and Vietnam.

The Lao National Assembly Chairman expressed his gratitude to the Party, National Assembly, Government, local authorities and people of Vietnam for their timely support and assistance in providing medical equipment worth more than 6.3 million USD to Laos, making an important contribution to the work of disease prevention, control and prevention. In 2020, despite many difficulties, Vietnam provided more than 930 billion VND in support and assistance to Laos, making an important contribution to the socio-economic development of Laos.

The Lao National Assembly Chairman especially appreciated the noble sentiment of “biting a grain of rice in half, breaking a piece of vegetable in half” of the Party, State, National Assembly and people of Vietnam in sharing the huge and valuable capital to build the new National Assembly Building as a gift to the Lao Party, National Assembly, Government and people of all ethnic groups. On behalf of the Lao Party, National Assembly, Government and people of all ethnic groups, the Lao National Assembly Chairman expressed his deep gratitude and sincere thanks to the Party, National Assembly, Government and people of Vietnam for this valuable assistance; affirmed that Laos will use the National Assembly Building most effectively and to be worthy of being a prominent and vivid symbol of the special friendship and solidarity between the two countries.

At the talks, the two National Assembly Chairmen agreed that political and diplomatic relations on all channels have been continuously strengthened. In particular, the two sides have successfully coordinated to organize two official friendly visits by General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith to Vietnam (June 2021) and President Nguyen Xuan Phuc to Laos (August 2021) with many important and substantive results, contributing to orienting and creating more momentum for comprehensive cooperation between the two countries in the coming time. Cooperation in the fields of defense, security, trade, investment, energy, transport connectivity, education and training; cooperation and mutual assistance in COVID-19 prevention; cooperation between localities, people-to-people exchanges... continue to be focused on and promoted.

Although the two countries are facing serious challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chairman of the Lao National Assembly was pleased to note that the total trade turnover between the two countries in 2021 reached 948 million USD, up 28% over the same period last year. Vietnam's investment in Laos ranked third among 54 countries investing in Laos with 409 projects worth a total of 1.9 billion USD. Many large and important projects are being implemented as planned.

Discussing the relationship between the two National Assemblies in recent times, the two National Assembly Chairmen were pleased to see that the comprehensive cooperation relationship between the two National Assemblies is developing very well. The two National Assemblies have effectively implemented the Cooperation Agreement signed in 2017 with many diverse cooperation activities such as exchanging delegations of high-ranking leaders and all levels; organizing specialized seminars with in-depth content, sharing experiences in law-making work; coordinating to monitor agreements signed between the two countries; supporting each other in training National Assembly deputies, People's Council deputies and officials of the National Assembly Office as well as building technical infrastructure. National Assembly Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue said that on the basis of the "Vietnam - Laos High-Level Agreement in 2021", the Cooperation Agreement between the National Assembly of Vietnam and the National Assembly of Laos in 2017, the Party Delegation of the National Assembly of Vietnam has issued a Project to organize the implementation of activities in 2021.

The two National Assembly Chairmen specifically assessed the cooperation results of the two countries' National Assemblies in the past time and discussed in depth the direction of cooperation in the coming time. On that basis, the two Chairmen agreed to consider amending and supplementing the Cooperation Agreement between the two countries' National Assemblies, promoting a number of important cooperation contents such as: closely coordinating to monitor and facilitate the effective implementation of high-level agreements, Agreements, and cooperation agreements between the two countries, especially the key tasks in the Vietnam - Laos Cooperation Strategy for the period 2021-2030, the Vietnam - Laos Cooperation Agreement for the period 2021-2025 and other Agreements.

Continue to organize conferences and seminars to exchange experiences on the activities of the National Assembly, including National Assembly Sessions, the organization and operation of the National Assembly, the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Nationality Council, the National Assembly agencies, the National Assembly delegations and National Assembly deputies on cooperation contents of mutual interest, making the Vietnam-Laos National Assembly cooperation relationship an exemplary relationship in the region and the world. The two National Assembly Chairmen agreed that these activities could be organized online to contribute to promoting the role of the two countries' legislative bodies.

The two leaders of the National Assembly agreed to increase exchanges between the Friendship Parliamentarians Group, the Women National Assembly Group, and the Young National Assembly Group, along with organizing seminars on the role of legislative bodies and conferences on the tradition of special relations between the two countries to instill in the younger generations this legacy. Increase exchanges and delegations of People's Councils at the provincial and municipal levels, especially those in provinces sharing borders and those with sister-country relations between the two countries.

The two National Assembly Chairmen agreed that the two sides need to continue promoting the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia tripartite cooperation mechanism on the Development Triangle in a more substantial manner through thematic workshops at the Committee level of the National Assemblies of Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia; and agreed to propose that the National Assembly and Senate of Cambodia consider, when necessary, organizing meetings at the Chairman level of the National Assemblies of the three countries to promote and improve the effectiveness of the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia tripartite cooperation mechanism on the Development Triangle.

In 2022, the two sides will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations (September 5, 1962 - September 5, 2022) and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Friendship and Cooperation Treaty (July 18, 1977 - July 18, 2022). Therefore, the two National Assembly Chairmen hope that the National Assemblies of the two countries will have activities to celebrate the Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year in 2022; organize official visits by leaders of the National Assembly and National Assembly Committees, both in person and online; and organize specialized seminars between the two National Assemblies on issues of interest to both sides. The two Presidents also agreed to consider the possibility of organizing a joint supervision delegation between the specialized committees of the two countries' National Assembly on the implementation of legal documents on borders in the two countries, bilateral cooperation agreements between Vietnam and Laos for the 2016-2021 period, and specific projects.

The two National Assembly Chairmen agreed to continue to closely coordinate at regional and international inter-parliamentary forums such as the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (AIPA), the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF), the Francophone Parliamentary Union (APF), etc., and to organize meetings on the sidelines of the conferences; coordinate and exchange positions on international and regional issues of mutual concern.

On this occasion, the two National Assembly Chairmen witnessed the handover ceremony of medical equipment worth 1 million USD from the Vietnamese National Assembly to support the Lao National Assembly in preventing and fighting the COVID-19 epidemic./.

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