On the morning of October 10, during his participation in the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Vientiane, Laos, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh of Vietnam, Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet held a special breakfast gathering with the ASEAN Business Advisory Council (ASEAN BAC).

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh speaks at the special breakfast between the three Prime Ministers of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.

In his remarks, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh highlighted that Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia share a long-standing cultural and historical heritage, tightly linked by geography, history, the tradition of national liberation struggles, and current economic and social development.

The tradition of solidarity, unity, and mutual assistance between Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos is a valuable asset, forming the foundation for cooperative relations and mutual trust and serving as a crucial factor in strengthening the ties among the three countries.

Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone speaks at the special breakfast between the three Prime Ministers of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and the ASEAN Business Advisory Council.

In recent years, several trilateral cooperation mechanisms between Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos have been established and proved effective, significantly contributing to reinforcing and nurturing cooperation among the three countries. Economic, trade, and investment cooperation has made significant progress, though it still does not fully match the strong political-diplomatic relations.

During the trilateral meeting at this year’s Summit, the three Prime Ministers agreed that economic, trade, and investment cooperation should take strategic strides forward to match the stature of political relations and the potential and strengths of each country.

Commending this year’s Summit theme, “ASEAN: Strengthening Connectivity and Resilience,” the Prime Minister expressed his hope that the ASEAN business community would continue to cooperate, support, and help Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia to enhance their economic connectivity to the level of their geographical, historical, and political-diplomatic ties.

The Prime Minister stated that the Government of Vietnam is committed to working with the Governments of Laos and Cambodia to create the most favorable conditions for businesses to cooperate, invest, and operate.

Specifically, the proposal aims to strengthen connectivity between the three economies across five areas: soft connectivity (establishing institutions, mechanisms, and policies to leverage each country's unique potential, outstanding opportunities, and competitive advantages); hard connectivity, particularly transportation, including air, road, rail, inland waterway, and maritime links; trade connectivity (leveraging complementary advantages to form interconnected production and supply chains with regional and global supply chains); digital infrastructure and energy infrastructure connectivity; and business connectivity.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh noted that the Vietnamese Government is committed to working with the Governments of Laos and Cambodia to create the best conditions for businesses to cooperate, invest, and operate with a spirit of “listening and understanding together; sharing visions and actions together; working, enjoying, winning, and developing together; sharing joy, happiness, and pride together” among the three countries and their peoples.