At the invitation of Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith and Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, President To Lam will pay a state visit to Laos and Cambodia from July 11 to 13.

Give top priority

Speaking to the press before the visit on July 10, Deputy Foreign Minister Do Hung Viet said that President To Lam's first overseas trip after taking office "has great significance, demonstrating a very important message from the Party and State of Vietnam as well as the President". "That is, the Party and State of Vietnam always attach importance to and give the highest priority to the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos and the good neighborly relationship, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability between Vietnam and Cambodia".

It is also a message affirming the solidarity and close bond between the three countries. Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia are geographically close, have historical and cultural ties, and the three leading parties in the three countries have a common origin, the Indochinese Communist Party.

In addition, the people of the three countries have united, bonded, and sacrificed their blood for the cause of national liberation, national unification, and national development as it is today.

According to Mr. Viet, the visit will mark "a new stage of development" in the Vietnam-Laos and Vietnam-Cambodia relations, and at the same time create a new impetus to develop deeper, more comprehensive and stronger relations between Vietnam and the two countries. During the visit, President To Lam is expected to hold talks, meetings and contacts with "all senior leaders of Laos and Cambodia". This is an opportunity for senior leaders to review high-level agreements, important areas of cooperation and outline future cooperation directions.

Looking back over the past time, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs said that the Vietnam-Laos and Vietnam-Cambodia relations are developing very well, comprehensively, with increasing trust and closeness. Party channel cooperation plays a core role, has been guiding and leading the relationship to develop strongly. Defense and security cooperation is becoming a solid pillar of cooperation, with Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia all firmly upholding the principle of not allowing hostile forces to use the territory of one country to carry out acts against the other. Economic, investment and trade cooperation continues to progress more positively and effectively, economic cooperation in border areas is developing dynamically. Vietnam continues to be one of Laos' largest investors and trade partners and currently has 255 valid investment projects in Laos with a total capital of 5.5 billion USD. For Cambodia, Vietnam is the third largest trading partner of this country in general and the largest in ASEAN in particular, with a total registered capital of 2.94 billion USD. Cooperation in education and training has received special attention from the leaders of the Party and State of the three countries. In addition, cooperation in areas such as transportation, culture - society, tourism, science - technology is also developing strongly. In particular, according to Mr. Viet, the work of handling legal documents for people of Vietnamese origin in Cambodia has made new progress, which is a premise for creating increasingly better conditions for the community of Vietnamese origin to live and do business in Cambodia. Recently, Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni signed a decree to grant citizenship to three cases of people of Vietnamese origin.

Laos expects President To Lam's visit

According to the schedule, Laos will be the first destination in the visit of the Vietnamese head of state to the two countries. Laos is also the country holding the role of ASEAN Chair in 2024. Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Ba Hung and Lao Ambassador to Vietnam Khamphao Ernthavanh both expressed high expectations for the state visit of President To Lam when answering an interview with VNA. In particular, Mr. Nguyen Ba Hung reiterated the words of Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith that no force can divide the relationship between the two countries. He also said that during the visit to Laos, the two sides are expected to sign a number of important cooperation documents. The Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos also said that the two countries need to continue to raise the level of economic cooperation by expanding and upgrading East-West transport connections. In addition, it is necessary to promote new cooperation models such as Vietnam - Laos +1 cooperation to take advantage of the potential and strengths of the two countries and take advantage of the potential of capital, experience, technology of partners, etc. With Lao Ambassador Khamphao Ernthavanh recalling that President To Lam spent time receiving ambassadors and chargé d'affaires of ASEAN countries on May 30, she affirmed that President To Lam's visit to Laos emphasized the importance of solidarity, self-reliance and regional cooperation of ASEAN, in which Vietnam plays an important role in these efforts.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/chu-tich-nuoc-to-lam-tham-lao-va-camuchia-su-coi-trong-va-uu-tien-cao-nhat-cua-viet-nam-20240710151607164.htm