Despite taking place over just two days, the visit proved to be of significance in terms of strongly promoting the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive co-operation between both nations.
The event marked the first official overseas visit of a senior Vietnamese leader after the 13th national Party Congress and the 15th National Assembly election, along with being the first foreign visit of President Phuc after taking on his new role.
Through the talks, a broad array of high-level meetings, and direct exchanges between ministries, agencies, and localities, the two sides were able to achieve many concrete, substantive, and comprehensive outcomes.
The leaders of both sides managed to reach a consensus regarding major policies and measures aimed at further deepening the bilateral relationship in an effective and substantive manner. Indeed, developments were made in key areas such as politics, defence, security, education, economics, culture, and energy.
Furthermore, the two sides agreed to strengthen the connection between the neighbouring economies, along with seeking new areas of co-operation to take advantage of opportunities, whilst also meet the new requirements moving into the era of Industry 4.0.
They therefore consented to mark 2020 as the Year of Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Vietnam Friendship and Solidarity in order to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation between the two countries.
The General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee and President of Laos emphasised the necessity of maintaining the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation to ensure that no force can harm the two countries' relations.
With regard to co-operation within the multilateral framework, the two sides pledged to continue working closely at regional and international forums, especially within ASEAN, along with actively contributing to building a united community. This is in addition to promoting the role of the ASEAN community in handling common challenges, including issues relating to the East Sea and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most notably, both sides signed a total of 14 co-operation documents between various ministries, agencies, and enterprises in the fields of defence, security, drug control, search and rescue, electricity trading, mineral exploration, exploitation, and processing.
The visit also contributed to encouraging the Vietnamese community and Vietnamese businesses to invest and conduct business in Laos despite facing plenty of difficulties due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
President Phuc's official friendship visit to Laos can therefore be considerd a great success, making an important contribution to further consolidating and developing the special relationship between Vietnam and Laos moving forward, Deputy Minister Dung said.
