Vientiane(VNA) – Authorities from the Vietnamese and Lao provinces along their sharedborder gathered in Vientiane on July 3 at a conference, seeking ways to fosterjudicial cooperation between the two sides to ensure legal rights and theinterests of people living in the border region.

The conference, thefourth of its kind, was chaired by Vietnamese Minister of Justice Le Thanh Longand his Lao counterpart Saysi Santivong, and attended by judicial officialsfrom the two ministries as well as 16 Vietnamese and 18 Lao provinces.

Since the lastjudicial conference, the management of household registers and citizenship-relatedissues in the provinces along the shared border has been strengthened with anumber of encouraging results, as heard at the event.

The two sides have bothbeen actively working together to implement the 2013 Vietnam-Laos agreement inaddressing free migration and undocumented marriages in their shared borderareas while, at the same time, making many efforts in the enforcement of civiljudgments under a bilateral treaty on mutual legal assistance signed in July1998.

For the near future,the two sides agreed to effectively implement the bilateral agreement in freemigration and undocumented marriage along the border, which had its validityextended to November 14, 2019.

The two ministrieswill propose a roadmap for revising and amending the mutual legal assistancetreaty, adapting it to real circumstances for more effective cooperation incivil judgment enforcement between the two sides.

They also agreed tocontinue enhancing legal dissemination and education, raising people’sawareness of legal aids and reconciliation at a local level.

In addition, the ministriesand their training institutions on both sides will bolster their partnership incapacity building for Lao judicial personnel, as part of a Vietnam-fundedproject to support the Lao judicial academy.

Speaking at the meeting,the two ministers expressed their confidence that the important resultsachieved at this event will further nurture the time-honoured friendship andcomprehensive partnership between Vietnamese and Lao judiciary sectors andmaintain good relations between the two nations for peace, stability,development, and prosperity of Southeast Asia and Asia.

They also agreed tohold the fifth judicial conference between provinces along the Vietnam-Laosshared border in Vietnam next year.

A number of agreementsbetween the Departments of Justice of provinces from the two countries wereinked after the event. -VNA