General Lich underlined that their meeting took place at a time when Vietnam and Laos are preparing to celebrate their major events, including the 75th and 70th founding anniversaries of the Vietnam People’s Army and the Lao People’s Army, respectively.

He also affirmed that the meeting would create a new momentum to further expand the defense cooperation – one of the pillars in the two countries’ relations.

For his part, General Chansamone Chanyalath emphasized that Laos attaches much importance to developing the relationship with Vietnam and thanked the Vietnamese people and military for supporting his country to surmount the aftermaths of the recent collapse of Xepian-Xe Nam Noy hydropower dam, adding that the bilateral defense cooperation is special. 

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General Ngo Xuan Lich and General Chansamone Chanyalath at the signing ceremony for the bilateral 2019 Cooperation Plan

The two generals evaluated that in 2018, agencies and units of the two Defense Ministries closely worked together and effectively implemented their cooperation plans.

Both sides agreed to continue boosting the implementation of a cooperation plan in 2019 and other agreements, especially paying attention to personnel training, considering it an issue of strategic benefits of the two countries.

In addition, the two militaries have to boost the border management and protection work with a focus on twinning activities between localities and military units stationed on the shared border.

The two Defense Ministers agreed to assign their relevant units to review the bilateral cooperation in the 2015-2019 period, whereby they would propose further cooperation contents in the time to come.

After that, they signed the 2019 Cooperation Plan between the Defense Ministries.

Translated by Van Hieu