Strengthening cooperation between the Office of the Government of Vietnam and the Office of the Lao Prime Minister

Minister and Head of the Office of the Government of Vietnam Tran Van Son (right) and Minister and Head of the Office of the Prime Minister of Laos Alunsay Sunnalat. Photo: Pham Bang

Talks between the Minister and Head of the Government Office of Vietnam and the Minister of the Lao Prime Minister's Office. Photo: Pham Bang

At the meeting, Minister and Head of the Office of the Government of Vietnam Tran Van Son expressed his pleasure to welcome the delegation of the Lao Prime Minister's Office to visit and work with the Office of the Government of Vietnam; at the same time, he wished the delegation's visit a great success, contributing to deepening the relationship between the two Offices, contributing to the development of the relationship between Vietnam and Laos.

Minister and Head of the Lao Prime Minister's Office Alunsay Sunnalat also expressed his gratitude for the warm and respectful reception of the Vietnamese Government Office for the delegation and hoped that the visit would contribute to enhancing the cooperative relationship, promoting the cooperation between the two Offices to become more practical and achieve more positive results.

Minister and Chairman of the Government Office of Vietnam Tran Van Son speaks at the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

At the meeting, Minister and Head of the Government Office of Vietnam Tran Van Son briefed the Lao Minister and Head of the Prime Minister's Office on Vietnam's socio-economic situation in the first 8 months of 2022.

Specifically, 5 major balances were well ensured, including: 8-month budget revenue is estimated at 85.6% of the estimate, up 19.4% over the same period in 2021; exports and imports reached nearly 498 billion USD, up 15.5%, trade surplus of 3.96 billion USD; agricultural exports were about 36.3 billion USD; sufficient electricity and energy were ensured; businesses developed but labor supply and demand were guaranteed, the labor market recovered well; IIP index in August increased by 2.9% over the previous month; FDI attraction reached 12.8 billion USD, up 10.5% over the same period.

Leaders of units under the Lao Prime Minister's Office attended the talks. Photo: Pham Bang

In addition, the cooperation between the two countries, despite many difficulties, continues to develop in all fields; senior leaders of the two countries regularly maintain exchanges and contacts to help strengthen close and trustworthy relations; trade turnover continues to increase, Vietnam's investment in Laos continues to increase again; many projects have been handed over to the Lao side. It is believed that from now until the end of 2022, the assistance of Vietnamese ministries, branches and localities to Lao ministries, branches and localities will continue to achieve good results.

In particular, the cooperation between the two Offices of the two countries is closely coordinated, regularly exchanging substantive and effective tasks agreed upon for the year 2022-2023. The Offices of the two countries have had timely exchanges through 3 high-level delegations, demonstrating lively and effective cooperation.

Leaders of units under the Lao Prime Minister's Office attended the talks. Photo: Pham Bang

In the coming time, the Minister and Head of the Office of the Government of Vietnam proposed that the two Offices continue to increase experience sharing, especially on specialized issues to improve their comprehensive advisory capacity, helping the Governments and Prime Ministers of the two countries to operate and manage more promptly, decisively and effectively. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Planning and Investment of the two countries should closely coordinate to prepare for the high-level visit of the leaders of the Party and State of Vietnam to Laos at the end of 2022; Continue to implement cooperation projects between the two Offices more quickly.

The Minister and Head of the Lao Prime Minister's Office also gave an overview of Laos' socio-economic situation in the first 8 months of 2022 and announced the situation of the 5 key priority tasks of the Lao Government in the past time. In particular, encouraging production to replace imports; saving and controlling spending in the public sector; preventing and combating drugs...

Minister and Head of the Office of the Lao Prime Minister Alunsay Sunnalat speaks at the meeting. Photo: Pham Bang

The Minister and Head of the Lao Prime Minister's Office also shared the difficulties that Laos is facing. At the same time, he deeply thanked the great and wholehearted support of the Party, State and People of Vietnam to the Lao Party, State and People in the past time. In particular, the Vietnamese Government Office has also promptly provided professional support and capacity building for the staff of the Lao Prime Minister's Office.

In the coming time, the Minister and Head of the Lao Prime Minister's Office proposed the following contents between the two Offices in the coming time, including: close coordination to find solutions to solve cooperation issues between the two countries, including a number of key projects; Possibility to form new projects, welcoming the visit of the Prime Minister of Vietnam to Laos at the end of 2022; strengthening the exchange and sharing of experiences on important issues between the two sides...