Hanoi (VNA) - Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Laocounterpart Thongloun Sisoulith co-chaired the 42nd meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Inter-governmental Committee in Hanoi on January 4.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc expressed his delight at the development of thegreat friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation betweenVietnam and Laos in all areas.

Lao PM Thongloun Sisoulith congratulated Vietnam on its impressive achievementsin socio-economic development in 2019, especially the economic growth of 7percent. He spoke highly of outcomes of comprehensive cooperation between thetwo countries, expressing his belief the meeting will create a new momentum forthe bilateral ties in 2020 when Vietnam and Laos are celebrating importantevents and preparing for the National Party Congress of each country in 2021.

Both sides expressed their pleasure with the implementation of cooperationprogramme between the two governments in all areas over the past year. Thepolitical ties and cooperation in defence – security have been strengthened,contributing to maintaining political stability and social order and securityin each country.

Regarding economic collaboration, the two-way trade hit 1.2 billion USD, up12.5 percent. Vietnam remained a big foreign investor in Laos with nearly 430projects with combined capital of nearly 5 billion USD.

Cooperation in education has been promoted with the increasing number ofVietnam’s scholarships for Laos. There are 17,000 Lao students studying inVietnam.

The two sides agreed on cooperation orientations for 2020, with a focus onincreasing pillar collaboration on politics, external affairs, defence, security;strengthening experience sharing in building policies on stabilising macro-economystability and promoting sustainable development; while enhancing connectivityand supplementation between the two economies, especially in transport andenergy.

Besides, the two nations will coordinate to improve business and investmentenvironment, and transport infrastructure connectivity, while creating morefavourable conditions for businesses and striving to expand two-way trade by atleast 10 percent this year.

Vietnam and Laos will work together to build their cooperation strategy in thenext ten years, while the two countries’ ministries, sectors and localities continuepromoting substantial and effective cooperation in the fields of culture,science, social affairs, information and communications, sports, healthcare, internaland judicial matters.

The two sides agreed to strengthen coordination and mutual support at regionaland international forums and join hands to further deepen the cooperation andconnectivity of the ASEAN Community as well as promote the bloc’s solidarity,central role, and common voice in regional strategic issues, including the EastSea matter.

They were unanimous in making effective and sustainable use of water resourcesin the Mekong River. Laos affirmed to support Vietnam’s assumption of the rolesof the ASEAN Chair 2020 and a non-permanent member of the United Nations SecurityCouncil for 2020-2021 tenure.

Concluding the meeting, the two PMs stressed they will direct ministries,sectors, localities and businesses of both countries to closely coordinate to realiseeffectively the freshly-reached agreements.

After the meeting, the two PMs witnessed the signing ceremony for important cooperationdocuments, including the agreement on cooperation plan for 2020 between thegovernments of Vietnam and Laos, the minutes of the 42nd meeting of theVietnam-Laos Inter-governmental Committee, the agreement on transfer ofsentenced persons, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Vietnam’s TransportMinistry and the Lao Ministry of Public Works and Transport, and the agreement oneducation cooperation plan between the two education ministries./.