Nghe An Provincial People's Committee organized an exchange with former Lao students to visit their old school and Vietnamese teachers.

Attending the ceremony, on behalf ofLao PDRThere were comrade Nouanthong Souvanvixay - Deputy Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union; Sumlan Phankhavong - Director of the Examination Department, Ministry of Education and Sports of the Lao PDR and 100 delegates who are former Lao students who studied and researched at educational institutions in Vietnam. The delegation was received by comrade Nguyen Hai Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Education and Training. On the side of Nghe An province, there was comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, leaders of the Department of Education and Training, Department of Foreign Affairs and a number of related departments, agencies and branches.

The activity of returning to the source, visiting old schools and teachers in Vietnam is a meaningful activity to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations; 45 years of the signing of the friendship and cooperation treaty between Vietnam - Laos, Laos - Vietnam and Laos.Vietnam - Laos Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022.

Speaking at the exchange ceremony with the delegation, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De recalled the close memories between Vietnam in general, Nghe An province in particular, and Laos.

The cultural program with songs praising the close relationship between Vietnam and Laos. Photo: MH

Nghe An Province - the homeland of the great President Ho Chi Minh, who together with President Kaysone Phomvihane laid the foundation for the special traditional friendship between the two Parties, the two States and the people of Vietnam and Laos. With the close, loyal and warm feelings of the people of Nghe An, Nghe An welcomes the delegation of former Lao students who have come to Vietnam, to Nghe An.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van De also introduced Nghe An province and its potentials in recent years. Currently, Nghe An is the province with the 10th largest economy in the country; The economic growth rate remains quite high, reaching 8.44% in the first 6 months of 2022; budget revenue in the first 8 months of the year reached nearly 600 million USD, reaching nearly 90% of the assigned plan.

Comrade Nguyen Van De spoke at the exchange. Photo: MH

Over the years, the friendly and cooperative relations between Nghe An and Lao localities have always been maintained and developed. Up to now, in addition to traditional cooperation with the three provinces sharing the border, namely Hua Phan, Xieng Khouang, Bo Ly Kham Xay, Nghe An has expanded its cooperative relations with the provinces of Vientiane, Kham Muon, Savannakhet, Xay Som Bun in many fields such as: trade, education - training, health, national defense - security, etc.

From 2011 to present, Nghe An province has deployed human resource training, and has been studying in Nghe An for neighboring provinces with 2,322 students.

Comrade Sumlan Phankhavong - Director of the Examination Department, Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR spoke at the ceremony. Photo: MH

In particular, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee has agreed to the policy of granting scholarships to junior high school graduates from Lao provinces that have cooperative relations with Nghe An, to study high school programs (after 1 year of basic Vietnamese language training) in Nghe An province, starting from the 2023-2024 school year. Currently, Nghe An is the first province to advise and implement this activity).

With the achieved results, in the coming time, Nghe An province requests that the Central Ministries, agencies and authorities of neighboring provinces pay attention and support to realize the policies and contribute to continuing to build and further develop the good traditional relationship between our two peoples.

Comrade Sumlan Phankhavong - Director of the Examination Department, Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR presented a souvenir to Comrade Nguyen Van De - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee. Photo: MH

Speaking at the ceremony, Comrade Sumlan Phankhavong - Director of the Examination Department, Ministry of Education and Sports of Lao PDR also expressed his gratitude for the warm and friendly welcome of the people of Nghe An, which made all members of the delegation feel like they were returning to their homeland.

The representative of the delegation of former Lao students also affirmed that Nghe An is a province with many ties to Laos, during the resistance war and now cooperates in many fields. In the field of education, the province has helped Laos in training human resources, contributing to improving the quality of education and creating high-quality human resources for Laos to meet the new situation.

The two provinces share a border and regularly meet to cooperate in protecting border security and territorial integrity of the two countries. During the Covid-19 outbreak, Nghe An supported the neighboring provinces with food and medical supplies. These practical actions affirm the close relationship, the spirit of mutual love and support, helping each other overcome difficulties and hardships, demonstrating a close relationship that is forever green and forever sustainable.

Lao students visiting Nghe An. Photo: MH

Over the past 60 years, Vietnam has trained over 60,000 Lao students. In recent years, there have been about 15,000 Lao students studying at nearly 180 educational institutions across the country. Many generations of Lao students studying in Vietnam have returned to their country and strived to become key officials in the fields of Security, National Defense, Politics, Diplomacy, Economics, etc.

During the visit back to their old school and old teachers, the group of overseas students visited the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Bac Giang, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen, Hanoi, and Nghe An.