Sonexay, who is on official Viet Nam visit, welcomed the steady growth of bilateral friendly and cooperative ties and flagged the importance of 2027, when the two countries mark 65 years of diplomatic ties (September 5) and 50 years since signing the Viet Nam-Laos Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation (July 18). He urged the Viet Nam-Laos and Laos-Viet Nam friendship associations to keep coordinating closely and step up messaging on the two countries’ great friendship, special solidarity, comprehensive cooperation and strategic cohesion, especially around the treaty’s 50th anniversary.
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President of the Lao N.A. Sonexay Siphandone (right) presents a souvenir to the Viet Nam-Laos Friendship Association (VLFA) at the meeting in Hanoi on November 2, 2026. |
On preparations for 2027 anniversaries, Sonexay said Laos has a national-level steering committee working with Viet Nam. The two associations’ activities will sit within the two countries’ joint agenda.
Vinh congratulated the Lao Party, State and people on their achievements under the 12th National Party Congress resolution and the 10th five-year socio-economic development plan.
The Vietnamese Party, State and people always see the Viet Nam-Laos special solidarity as an invaluable asset of both peoples and a strategic factor for each country’s revolutionary cause, he said, adding that protecting, consolidating and upholding it is the shared responsibility of all sectors, organizations and people, including people’s diplomacy groups. The two legislatures have an important role in boosting cooperation through delegation exchanges, high-level contacts and sharing of experience in lawmaking and oversight, making the Viet Nam-Laos comprehensive collaboration more effective.
He said the two associations always earn close direction of the two Parties and States’ leaders. General Secretary of the Communist Party of Viet Nam Central Committee and President To Lam has directed 2027 anniversaries with rich, practical and substantive content, especially aimed at younger generations.
Sonexay, when serving as Prime Minister, gave important orientations for the association’s work at a June 2026 meeting. Vietnamese PM Le Minh Hung also stressed the two associations’ tasks at a meeting with the Lao Front for National Construction and the Laos-Viet Nam Friendship Association during his October working trip to Laos.
Following those directions, the two associations have coordinated many activities, especially on major anniversaries, notably the 5th Viet Nam-Laos People Friendship Festival in 2022 in Viet Nam’s Quang Tri province and Laos’ Savannakhet province for the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties and the treaty’s 45th anniversary. They also regularly hold youth, pupil and student exchanges; meetings between former volunteer soldiers and Vietnamese experts and younger generations; Buddhist cultural exchanges and martyr tributes; offer care and support for Lao students in Viet Nam; and social security support for struggling localities. In border areas, localities have run twinning programs between villages, residential clusters and localities.
Vinh said that the two associations will work closely with agencies and organizations in both countries on anniversaries and step up messaging on Viet Nam-Laos relations next year. He wants the two associations to soon draft a coordination plan and agree on activities to report to the two Parties and States’ leaders.
Sonexay agreed with the orientation presented by Vinh and asked the two associations to keep holding practical activities that foster people-to-people ties. He said he looks forward to welcoming a VLFA delegation to Laos next year.
Source: VNA