Vietnamese, Lao top leaders witness exchange of cooperation documents

Vietnamese Party General Secretary To Lam, and Party General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith on December 1 witnessed the exchange of bilateral cooperation documents between the two countries' ministries, agencies and localities, following their talks the same day.

This is part of activities within the Vietnamese Party chief’s two-day state visit to Laos, where he will attend a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the Lao National Day and co-chair a high-level meeting between the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party.

The documents include a 2026 cooperation plan between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and its Lao counterpart, an agreement between the two ministries on building a command centre of the Lao Ministry of Public Security, a 2026 cooperation plan between the two Ministries of National Defence, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation between the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security and the Lao Ministry of National Defence on building a Vietnam - Laos friendship road, and cooperation agreements between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs, and the two Ministries of Justice in the next five years.

Others are an MoU on cooperation in key banking activities in 2026-2030; another between the two Ministries of Industry and Trade on developing industrial linkage chains; cooperation agreements between Vietnam Television and the LPRP’s Commission for Propaganda and Training, between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam and the Lao Party Central Committee's External Relations Commission, and between Vietnam’s Thanh Hoa province and Houaphanh province of Laos; and an MoU on strengthening cooperation in socio-economic development, ensuring national defence and border security between the People's Committee of Da Nang city, and Sekong province of Laos for the next five years.

In recent years, alongside strengthened cooperation in politics, defence, and security, the two countries have made strong efforts to elevate and create breakthroughs and great strides in economic cooperation, especially the effective implementation of key connectivity projects—especially in transport, energy, trade, investment, high-quality human resource training, and sustainable supply chains.

Trade and investment ties have maintained robust growth, with two-way trade in the first ten months of 2025 hitting nearly 2.5 billion USD, surging by 50.4% from 2024, elevating Vietnam to Laos’ third-largest trading partner. The two countries are striving toward the targets of 5 billion USD and, in the longer term, 10 billion USD in two-way trade.

Regarding investment, Vietnam currently has 274 projects in Laos with a total registered capital of over 5.8 billion USD. Newly operational transport-infrastructure projects connecting the two countries mark important progress in strategic development spatial linkage, helping drive shared development in the near future.

Cooperation in other fields—including education and training, culture, transport, energy, and agriculture—has also progressed with promising outcomes. People-to-people exchanges and growing ties between localities of the two countries are further deepening mutual understanding and strengthening connections, particularly among young people./.