Vientiane (VNA) – Chairwoman ofVietnam’s National Assembly Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan and her Lao counterpart PanyYathotou held talks in Vientiane on September 26 during her ongoing visit toLaos.

Ngan shared her sympathy to the Lao Party, Stateand people over the human and property losses caused by recent floods in sixcentral and southern Lao provinces.

She said some Vietnamese representative officesin Laos as well as the Vietnamese community in Laos, Vietnamese localities,ministries and departments have been raising funds to support Lao people.

Vietnam is willing to support Laos to addressflood consequences, Ngan said, hoping that Lao people in the affected areaswill soon overcome difficulties to resume production and daily life.

While exchanging about cooperation between thetwo countries, Pany Yathotou said the exchange of all-level delegations issignificant to address issues that need close coordination, especially in the economy.

She suggested the two nations supplement someagreements to make it legally easier for bilateral cooperation in key fieldssuch as transport, telecom, electricity, and trade as well as theimplementation of several Vietnamese investment projects in Laos.

During the talks, the two sides highly appreciated thecooperation between legislative bodies, saying many agreements reached duringthe visit to Vietnam by the Lao top legislator in March 2019 have beenimplemented and reaped specific outcomes.

For example, the Vietnamese andLao parliaments have urged the governments to deal with proposals of the twocommittees for external relations on free migration and undocumented marriage inthe two countries’ shared border areas.

Pany Yathotou hoped the two parliaments wouldcontinue directing ministries and localities to settle the remaining casesbefore the agreement expires in this November.

Since the beginning of this year, the two sideshave held a number of workshops and delegation exchanges to share professionalinformation and experience.

Vietnam and Laos agreed to increase experiencesharing and delegation exchanges at all levels while strengthening coordinationto supervise the implementation of the signed agreements, contributing topromoting trade and investment cooperation.

They agreed to boost cooperation between the twonational assemblies and people’s councils at the provincial level.

Chairwoman Ngan thanked Laos for supportingVietnam to become a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for2020-2021, and hoped Laos would continue supporting Vietnam in this position aswell as the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) andASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Assembly (AIPA) in 2020.

She hoped Laos to strengthen coordination withVietnam at regional and international parliamentary forums such as AIPA, theInter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), the ASEAN People Forum (APF), and theAsia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF).

While discussing the East Sea issue, the twoleaders agreed with the viewpoint of maintaining and protecting peace,stability, cooperation and development in the East Sea as well as settling disputesin the East Sea via peaceful means, in line with international law, includingthe 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), fullyand effectively implementing the  Declaration on the Conduct of Parties inthe East Sea (DOC), and joining ASEAN countries to accelerate the building of aCode of Conduct in the East Sea (COC) for common benefits in the region and theglobal peace and stability./.