Continuing the historic story of Vietnam, Laos's special friendship

Those present at the welcoming ceremony for General Secretary Trong at Wattay International Airport on November 24 included high-ranking Lao officials and around 700 people who are working at Vietnamese Embassy in Laos, Vietnamese students and Lao citizens. The ceremony took place in a solemn atmosphere, but it was also warm as if welcoming back a member of the family. Wattay International Airport and the road leading to the Presidential Palace, which hosted the official welcoming ceremony, were adorned with the national flags of the two countries and students standing along the way joining their hands to welcome the Vietnamese Party chief and the high-ranking Vietnamese delegation.

This was the first official friendly visit by the Party chief to a foreign country since the conclusion of the Twelfth National Party Congress in late January, representing the Vietnamese Party's consistent foreign policy of treasuring its brotherhood with Laos. The traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation is a valuable common asset for the two nations, as Lao President Kaysone Phomvihane once said that in the world's history of revolutions, there had been many shining examples of the spirit of proletarian internationalism, but there had not yet been such a special, long-term and comprehensive fighting alliance and solidarity like those between Laos and Vietnam.

The fruitful political relations between the two countries have fostered economic bilateral cooperation. The two sides signed a new border trade agreement and implemented the "one-stop-shop" model at the Lao Bao-Dansavanh international border gates. The two-way trade turnover stood at US$591.5 million over the first nine months of this year, in which Vietnam exports to Laos reached US$ 337.9 million. According to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, as of September, Vietnam has 266 licensed investment projects worth US$5.5 billion in Laos, including seven hydropower plant projects, 63 mineral projects and eighteen others on planting rubber and industrial trees in Laos, as well as others on traffic.

General Secretary Trong and President Bounnhang witnessed the signing of seven cooperation documents after their talks, including two agreements on cooperation between Vietnam's Ministry of Transport and Laos's Ministry of Public Works and Transport in constructing the Hanoi-Vientiane Highway and in implementing the MoU on the Vietnam-Laos Cooperation Strategy for 2016-2020 and a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a joint website related to economic and trade cooperation between the two Ministries of Industry.

As part of his ongoing official visit to Laos, the Vietnamese Party chief delivered a speech before more than 1,800 lecturers, officials and students at the Lao National University in Vientiane on November 25.

During his speech, the Vietnamese Party leader dubbed the Truong Son Mountain Range the backbone of the two bodies of Vietnam and Laos, which share a natural bond and cannot be separated from each other. His 30-minute speech received enthusiastic applause from the audience as it expressed gratitude to Presidents Ho Chi Minh and Kaysone Phomvihane, who established bilateral ties while encouraging our Lao brothers to work harder to build a stronger country and to inspire Vietnam and Laos's younger generations to nurture the evergreen special solidarity and friendship between the two countries.

"This is an unforgettable memory and a good fortune in my life," said Dr. Somsy Gnophanxay, Acting President of the National University of Laos. He said that it was an honour for the university to welcome the Vietnamese Party chief, recalling the special tradition of fine relations between the two countries. The Vietnamese Party leader's visit to the university illustrated the attention the Vietnamese and Lao leaders pay to educating the younger generations of the two countries on the close bonds and special solidarity between their two countries.

According to him, the visit to Laos by the Vietnamese Party chief also played an important role in consolidating political theory on the traditional and long-term cooperation between the two countries and in fostering bilateral ties.

During their meeting, Vilayvong Butdakham, President of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship Association, briefed General Secretary Trong on the association's programmes and plans to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and Laos and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam-Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in 2017. The association is running a programme entitled "Following in the Footprints of President Ho Chi Minh and President Kaysone Phomvihane," and preparing for the launching of a magazine entitled "Sharing the Truong Son Range," as well as planning educational programmes targeting younger generations.

The Lao people were looking forward to the visit by General Secretary Trong, said a reporter from the Lao National Radio who was part of the group of journalists reporting on the event. According to her, over the past two weeks ahead of the visit, a number of programmes had been broadcast on Lao television and radios on the special solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Laos. Every Lao person is proud to have Vietnam as a close and trustworthy friend, she said, quoting a saying by Lao President Souphanouvong about the brotherhood between Vietnam and Laos: "Higher than a mountain peak, longer than a river/ Wider than the open sea, more beautiful than the full moon/ More fragrant than the flowers' fragrance."