At the invitation of General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic Thongloun Sisoulith, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam Luong Cuong will pay a State visit to the Lao People's Democratic Republic from April 24-25.

On this occasion, VNA reporter in Vientiane had an interview with Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Minh Tam about the meaning and importance of the visit to the special Vietnam - Laos relationship.

Ambassador Nguyen Minh Tam said that on the basis of the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, Laos and Vietnam, every time Vietnam celebrates the traditional New Year as well as every time Laos celebrates Boun Pi Mai (New Year Festival), Vietnam and Laos exchange warm feelings, considering the New Year of Laos as their own and vice versa.

Therefore, the first State visit to Laos by President Luong Cuong this time, taking place in the jubilant and joyful atmosphere of the new year of Boun Pi Mai (Buddhist year 2568), will be an important foreign activity, truly demonstrating the strong tradition of the two countries Vietnam and Laos from generation to generation of "joy, sadness, happiness, suffering" together in all circumstances.

In that spirit, this visit of President Luong Cuong to Laos is of great significance in continuing to demonstrate the consistency of the Party and State of Vietnam in always considering the Lao State and the special Vietnam-Laos relationship as one of the top priorities in implementing its foreign policy, affirming Vietnam's strong support for the renovation process in Laos; at the same time, it is also a concrete activity to increase the special closeness and affection between the senior leaders of the two Parties and two countries.

Along with many important contents expected to be discussed by the leaders of the two sides, it is believed that the visit of President Luong Cuong to Laos in the first days of the Lao New Year of Boun Pi Mai will create new momentum, contributing significantly to fostering and bringing the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos into deeper, more substantial and effective in the coming time, bringing prosperity to the people of each country.

According to Ambassador Nguyen Minh Tam, Vietnam and Laos are currently vigorously implementing the Resolutions of each Party and the socio-economic development plans of each country and have achieved many important and proud achievements; the cooperative relationship between Vietnam and Laos is developing very well, the agreements of the high-ranking leaders of the two Parties and the cooperation agreements between the two Governments are being actively implemented by both sides and achieving many important results in various fields.

The visit not only contributes to further deepening the special solidarity relationship between Vietnam and Laos, but is also an opportunity for the two sides to exchange information on the situation of each Party, each country, the world and the region that both sides are interested in. At the same time, they will evaluate the implementation of cooperation between the two countries in recent times, and discuss measures to promote the special solidarity relationship between Vietnam and Laos to continue to develop deeply and extensively in all fields in the coming time.

Also according to Ambassador Nguyen Minh Tam, in the context of the current complex regional and world situation, strategic competition between major countries, economic protectionism, the impact of climate change and non-traditional security challenges are posing many challenges to countries, including Vietnam and Laos, while both Vietnam and Laos are in the process of deep integration with the international and regional world, the policy of the high-ranking leaders of the two Parties and two countries is to give each other all priorities and incentives, cooperate and develop together.

Therefore, in order for the Vietnam - Laos relationship to become increasingly deeper, more practical and effective, in the coming time, the two countries need to continue to join hands, join hands to strongly promote historical traditional values, unite, cooperate and help each other to implement a number of key directions and areas of cooperation as follows:

Firstly, continue to maintain political trust, closely coordinate on strategic issues and policies related to security and development of each country; maintain and improve the effectiveness of cooperation mechanisms, review and propose new cooperation mechanisms; strengthen information exchange, share experiences in Party building, political system building, socio-economic development, building an independent and self-reliant economy, ensuring national defense - security - foreign affairs with deep integration; enhance theoretical and practical exchanges on issues of mutual concern to perfect institutions and policies contributing to the development of each country.

From now until the end of 2025, the two countries need to continue to strengthen cooperation and coordination, promote the effective implementation of the Agreement between the two Parties' senior leaders and the results of the 47th Session of the Vietnam - Laos Intergovernmental Committee, as well as the results of visits by the two countries' senior leaders, and the Cooperation Agreement between the two sides' ministries, branches and localities.

The two countries need to coordinate well in preparing for high-level visits, organizing celebrations of major holidays and important events such as the 80th anniversary of Vietnam's National Day and the 50th anniversary of Laos' National Day, the 135th birthday of President Ho Chi Minh and the 105th birthday of President Kaysone Phomvihane, and widely propagandizing to all classes of people about the importance of the special Vietnam-Laos relationship.

Ministries, departments, branches, localities and especially the young generation of both countries need to have a deep, full awareness and imbue them with the great meaning and value of the pure, loyal, special and rare relationship in international relations regarding the solidarity, sincere and effective assistance between the two Parties and the two States, considering this an objective factor, a historical law, one of the great sources of strength, of vital significance to the cause of national construction and defense of each country and a priceless asset that needs to be preserved, developed and passed on forever to future generations. At the same time, coordinate to fight against the arguments that distort and divide the relationship between the two Parties and the two countries by hostile forces.

Second, further deepen the pillar of defense and security cooperation, ensuring a solid foundation for each other to respond to increasingly diverse, complex and sophisticated non-traditional security challenges, contributing to maintaining stability in each country, especially building a peaceful, friendly, stable, cooperative and developing border between the two countries, thereby enhancing the position and prestige of both Vietnam and Laos in the international and regional arenas.

Third, with the policy of the two Parties and two countries' senior leaders on creating breakthroughs in economic, investment and trade cooperation, especially in connecting and complementing the two economies of Vietnam and Laos to match the extremely good political, defense and security cooperation relationship, it is necessary to promote and strengthen connectivity in terms of institutions, infrastructure, finance, clean energy, renewable energy, telecommunications, tourism, high-tech agriculture; encourage and attract Vietnamese enterprises to invest in industries and fields where Laos has potential and strengths, giving priority to clean energy, digital transformation, clean agriculture... actively complementing each other, connecting culture and society, promoting trade, expanding the market for goods consumption...

Although in 2024, the bilateral trade turnover between Vietnam and Laos exceeded the historical milestone of over 2 billion USD, with the overall good relationship between the two countries as well as the determination of the senior leaders of the two Parties and two countries and the proactive and active participation of ministries, branches, localities and enterprises of the two countries, Vietnam - Laos economic, investment and trade cooperation can reach 5 - 10 billion USD in the coming years.

Fourth, continue to strengthen cooperation in education and human resource training, considering this a strategic task. The two countries need to continue to promote student and postgraduate exchanges between the two countries, improve training quality; build specialized training programs in state management, economics, science and technology to support the development of high-quality human resources for Laos.

Fifth, pay more attention to cooperation in the fields of science and technology, artificial intelligence, and digital transformation. Vietnam has been actively supporting Laos in the process of digital transformation, developing e-Government and digital economy. Promote scientific research cooperation, especially in the field of high-tech agriculture, applying artificial intelligence and automation in production.

Sixth, promote cooperation between localities of the two countries, especially localities sharing a common border, to more closely connect economic and border regions. This will help promote the role of the business community and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries in promoting relations between the two countries.

Ambassador Nguyen Minh Tam expressed his belief that no matter how the world changes, with the determination of the two Parties, two States and people of Vietnam and Laos, through the orientations in the bilateral relationship in the coming time, the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, Laos and Vietnam, built with the sweat and blood of many generations of the two countries, will become increasingly strong, "deeper than the Red River and Mekong River", "more durable than mountains and rivers" and "brighter than the full moon, more fragrant than the most fragrant flower".