Military and defense cooperation continues to affirm as one of the important pillars of Vietnam-Lao bilateral relations.

On the morning of September 26, General Luong Cuong, Commissioner of the Politburo, Standing Commissioner of the Central Military Commission, Chairman of the General Political Bureau of the People's Army (NDC) of Vietnam presided over the welcoming ceremony for Senior General Thongloi Silivong, Minister of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. The Chairman of the Political Bureau of the Lao People's Council of Vietnam officially visited Vietnam.

General Thongloi Silivong's official visit to Vietnam came amid great friendship, special solidarity, comprehensive cooperation between Viet Nam-Lao and Laos-Viet Nam, and continuous expansion and development in various fields.

Defense cooperation has been identified as an important pillar of Viet Nam-Lao relations, in which Party work, political work is one of the particularly important areas of cooperation between the Vietnamese People's Congress and the Lao People's Congress, which is implemented comprehensively, in depth, practical and effective, contributing to the formation of strong political and political forces. organization and morality.

General Thongloi Silivong's official visit to Vietnam to maintain high-level contacts, contributed to further strengthening political credibility, solidarity between the two countries in general, the military of the two countries in particular, and an opportunity for the two countries' military to exchange and unify the direction of party cooperation. politics in the near future, especially in 2024 on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnamese People's Army (December 22, 1944-22 December 2024) and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Lao People's Army 20 January 1949-20 January 2024.

Strengthen mutual cooperation and support

Shortly after the welcoming ceremony, General Luong Cuong and Lieutenant General Thongli Silivong co-chaired the talks between the two delegations.

At the Conference, General Luong Cuong on behalf of the General Political Bureau of the Vietnam People's Committee, warmly welcomed the comrade Chairman of the General Political Bureau of the Lao People's Committee and the official visiting delegation.

General Luong Cuong appreciated the significance of the delegation's visit, which would further strengthen the solidarity and solidarity between the Ministry of National Defense and the Vietnam-Lao military, contributing to bringing Vietnam-Lao cooperative relations increasingly into depth, substance, effectiveness.

Emphasizing that Vietnam and Laos are two neighboring countries with the same socialist regime, a tradition of solidarity, mutual love, "bite a grain of rice in half, a vegetable stalk in half" and always support each other. Great, valuable, wholehearted, sincere, pure, and effective support and assistance during the country's struggle for independence in the past, as well as today's process of innovation, construction, and development.

Affirming that the Party, State, and People's Army of Vietnam have always valued relations with Laos as a top priority in their foreign policy; and that they always wish to work with Laos to continuously strengthen the two countries' great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation.

During the discussions, both parties agreed to evaluate: Military and defense cooperation remains an important pillar of Vietnam-Laos bilateral relations. The two countries' Ministries of Defense and Armed Forces have always actively and proactively coordinated closely, cooperated reliably, and effectively advised senior leaders on military and defense work, making an important contribution to maintaining a peaceful environment in each country for mutual development, comprehensively and practically implement the Protocol on Defense Cooperation and the Annual Cooperation Plan, particularly in the areas of exchanging delegations at all levels, training, sending experts, medical examination and treatment, and sharing professional experience.

In particular, as part of the Celebration Plan "Year of Solidarity and Friendship between Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Vietnam 2022," the Ministries of Defense of the two countries have collaborated to organize nearly 30 major activities with far-reaching implications.

Cooperation between the two armies' General Political Departments has always been close and has made significant contributions to the ongoing development of relations between the two countries and the two armies, particularly in the fields of propaganda and education. about the two Parties' great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation; human resource training cooperation is given special importance by both sides; twinning residential clusters in the two countries' border areas; the search, gathering, and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts; exchanging working groups and vacations.

On the direction of cooperation in the coming time, the two sides agreed, defense cooperation between the two countries, in particular, it is necessary to coordinate effectively in accordance with the common perception of the Senior Leaders of the two parties, the two states, the results of the Meeting between the three leaders of the Vietnam-Rao-Cambodia Party (September 6,2023), and Cambodia. focus on the following areas.

Continue to closely coordinate and effectively deploy propaganda and education on history, the meaning and significance of the two Parties' and two countries' great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation. The United States, the two armies, and the people of the two countries, particularly on the occasion of the Vietnam People's Army's 80th anniversary, the Lao People's Army's 75th anniversary, and the Dien Bien Phu Victory's 70th anniversary in 2024. In the near future, prioritize centrally disseminating the significance of the first Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia border defense friendship exchange at the Minister of Defense level, which is scheduled for this December.

To strengthen exchanges and cooperation between agencies and units of both parties through exchanges of delegations, to effectively promote cooperative mechanisms and models such as exchanges of young officers, exchanges of military women, military-military alliance, annual conferences between military districts, militias and border guards of the two countries; exchanges, to share practical experience in organizing party activities, political activities…

To strengthen coordination and share experiences in local political establishments; to effectively maintain the relationship model of "Co - Friendship Station, Peace Border"; a movement to unite populations on both sides of the border; thereby propagate and mobilize the people, to stabilize people's lives and social and economic development.

To continue to value cooperation in training and fostering human resources development; to continue to coordinate and direct the search, collection and repatriation of the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos during wartime.

Strengthen mutual cooperation and support in multilateral forums and mechanisms, especially ASEAN-led forums and mechanisms. In its capacity, the Ministry of National Defense and the Vietnamese People's Court are willing to share their experiences and support the Ministry of National Defense and the Lao People's Court to successfully serve as Presidents of ASEAN 2024 military and defense conferences.

At the meeting, the two sides also discussed the world situation, region and issues of mutual concern. General Luong Cuong emphasized that the Party and the State of Viet Nam have always maintained independent, autonomous, multilateral, diversified, and firm "Four-No" foreign policy.

Also on the morning of September 26, the Lao People's Committee's senior political delegation led by General Thongloi Silivong, Central Committee member, Deputy Minister of Defense, Chairman of the General Political Bureau of the Lao People's Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Central Committee.

At the next meeting, on behalf of Vietnam's Ministry of National Defense, General Phan Van Giang welcomed his comrade Chairman of the General Political Bureau and the delegation to visit Vietnam. In expression, Viet Nam has always remembered Laos' support and assistance in its past struggle for independence and national unity, as well as in building a country today; Viet Nam has always valued the strengthening and strengthening of great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Viet Nam and Lao.