Vientiane (VNA) ඣ– Sounthone Sayachak , head of the Lao Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations, underlined the significance of the upcoming visit to Laos by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Nguyen Phu Trong in an interview with Vietnam News Agency.

The visit, running from November 24-26, was made at the invitation of General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and President Bounnhang Volachith. Sayachak noted that t his is the CPV leader’s first foreign trip after his re-election as Party General Secretary at the 12 th National Party Congress in January 2016. The visit illustrates the Vietnamese Party, State and People’s focus on ties with Laos, and highlights bilateral friendship, she added. Laos values the meeting between the two countries’ top leaders to discuss future cooperation plans, the official said. She expressed her belief that the visit of the Vietnamese Party chief will elevate Vietnam-Laos amity, solidarity, and collaboration to new height. The long-standing relations between Vietnam and Laos were founded by late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh and Lao President Kaysone Phomvihane and Suphanuvong, and nurtured by generations of leaders of the two Parties, States and peoples. Such ties have become an invaluable asset for the two nations on their path of building a society of prosperity and happiness, Sounthone Sayachak said, calling on both sides to deepen the rapport. Both nations have expanded cooperation in areas such as politics, high-level delegation exchanges, defense-security and external affairs in addition to education, culture, trade and investment, she noted, citing the fact that more than 10,000 Lao students are studying in Vietnam. Particularly, at the outset of 2016, the CPV and the LPRP held National Party Congresses in their respective countries, during which they reiterated the consistent policy of preserving and developing bilateral friendship.-VNA