Laos news agency ​spotlights growing Vietnam - Laos relations

The article said such ties, nurtured by late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and his Lao counterpart Kaysone Phomvihane, have been maintained and developed by generations of the two countries’ leaders, revolutionaries, and peoples.

It reviewed the milestones in the relationship, starting in July 1962, when the two nations established their diplomatic ties. In February 2019, during the official visit of Party General Secretary and State President Nguyen Phu Trong to Laos, the sides agreed to upgrade their traditional relations into great traditional relations.

The 59 years of the diplomatic relations and the 44 years of the signing of the Vietnam - Laos Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation were a test for the close amity shared between the two nations. Their cooperation is increasingly diverse, and constantly consolidated and enhanced in both quantity and quality, it said.

Over the past time, the Vietnamese Party, Government and people have offered prompt, valuable, and effective assistance to Laos via regular and annual aid packages and urgent help in special cases, the article noted, adding that Vietnam was the first nation to lend a hand to Laos in curbing the spread of COVID-19, which reflected their special cooperation.

It said high-ranking leaders of the two countries have always seriously directed their competent agencies to strengthen the connection between the two economies, especially regarding their infrastructure, transport, as well as exploration and development of energy resources. They have also paid attention to solving existing problems to deepen the bilateral collaboration toward effectiveness in line with the strengths of the two countries.

Currently, Vietnam is one of the leading investors in and the largest trading partner of Laos. Their cooperation in the field of defense-security continues to reap achievements in various aspects. The sides are further coordinating and effectively implementing their signed agreement on border issues, promptly preventing and handleing border violations, and promoting the signing of cooperation pacts in the fields of defense, security, external relations, culture, education, and science and technology.

Regarding multilateral cooperation, the article said since joining ASEAN, Vietnam and Laos have been coordinating and supporting each other on many issues discussed at ASEAN forums, contributing to promoting and enhancing their great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation and to boosting peace, friendship, and cooperation and integration regionally and internationally./.