Hanoi (VNA) – General Secretary of the CommunistParty of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong and General Secretaryof the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and Presidentof Laos Thongloun Sisoulith co-chaired a high-level meeting between the twoParties in Hanoi on February 26.

This was an important event helping to strengthenand deepen the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensivecooperation between the two Parties, States and people of Vietnam and Laos.

The leaders informed each other about thesituation of their respective Party and country, including Party building andsocio-economic development; exchanged views on the world and regional situationand contents of mutual interest; assessed the results of bilateral cooperationin recent times; and agreed on major orientations for the coming time.

They expressed their delight at the development ofthe bilateral relations in all fields, with the political ties continuing to bestrengthened, defence-security promoted efficiently, and cooperation ineconomy, culture, education and science and technology seeing positive changes.

The Vietnam - Laos relationship is an invaluableasset of the two peoples, an objective necessity, a historical rule and thegreatest source of strength of the two Parties and countries that needs to bepromoted and passed on to future generations, they affirmed.

Trong affirmed that the relationship alwaysplays a particularly important role and is a top priority in Vietnam's foreignpolicy, while Thongloun Sisoulith highlighted the strategic importance andsignificance of the bilateral ties in the security and growth of each country,and for peace, stability and development in the region and the world.

At the meeting, Vietnamese Prime Minister PhamMinh Chinh and his Lao counterpart Sonexay Siphandone highly appreciated theresults of cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, investment, culture,education, science-technology, and defence-security; and proposed specificdirections for bilateral collaboration in the coming time.

The two sides agreed that in the context of thecurrent situation, the two Parties and countries need to continue promotinggood traditions and strengthening solidarity, close coordination and mutualsupport; developing political relations; promoting the pillars of cooperationin defence, security and foreign affairs; creating breakthroughs in economiccollaboration; and intensifying partnership in education, culture, science andtechnology and people-to-people exchanges on the basis of promoting thepotential and strengths of each country.

They stressed the need to promote theeffectiveness of existing mechanisms, continue innovating and improving theefficiency of cooperation in all fields, and build new appropriate mechanismsto further intensify the Vietnam-Laos special solidarity for the practicalbenefits of each country’s people, and for peace, cooperation and developmentin the region and the world./.