The Lao Minister of National Defense is on an official visit to Vietnam and attending the Vietnam International Defense Expo 2024.
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Gen. Phan Van Giang at the talks |
At the talks, Gen. Giang congratulated Gen. Khamliang Outhakaysone on his appointment as the defense minister of Laos. He believed that at his new post, the Lao general would lead and direct the building of a more developing Lao People’s Army and the acceleration of the close ties between the two militaries.
The Vietnamese defense chief also sent congratulations to the Lao Ministry of National Defense on successfully organizing the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM), ADMM+, and meetings among defense ministers of ASEAN and partner countries, making important contribution to the success of the ASEAN Chairmanship Year 2024, promoting solidarity and central role of ASEAN, as well as improving Laos’ position in the international arena.
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Sr. Lt. Gen. Khamliang Outhakaysone at the event |
Minister Giang expressed thanks to his Lao counterpart for attending the Vietnam International Defense Expo 2024, the ceremony to mark the 80th founding anniversary of the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and the 35th Whole-People Defense Festive Day and sending defense enterprises to display products at the expo, helping boost solidarity with Vietnam and contributing to the expo’s success.
Congratulating the VPA on its 80th birth anniversary, Gen. Khamliang Outhakaysone stressed that over the past eight decades, the VPA has constantly developed. He hoped that the VPA would enjoy stronger development in the future.
Saying that Vietnam is his first overseas visit as the defense minister, the Lao defense chief emphasized that it showed the importance that Lao attaches to the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation with Vietnam.
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The two ministers sign the MoU. |
During the talks, the two ministers spoke highly of the practical bilateral defense ties as one of the important pillars in the two countries’ relations. Both leaders highlighted important results during the five-year implementation of the protocol on defense cooperation in the 2020-2024 period. They included higher strategic political trust, firmly-consolidated solidarity and closer ties between the two militaries, more diverse and spreading cooperation mechanisms and forms, better security and order in the shared border areas, expansion of human resources training cooperation in scope and scale, and effective, more focal cooperation in building defense and defense industry potential.
The two leaders also highly praised the success of the second Vietnam-Laos border defense friendship exchange held in October this year.
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Gen. Giang presents a souvenir to his Lao counterpart Khamliang Outhakaysone after the talks. |
They agreed to concentrate on comprehensively and effectively implementing the protocol on defense cooperation in the 2025-2029 period and the cooperation plan for 2025. Accordingly, the two sides will promote all-level delegation exchanges, maintain the defense policy dialogue mechanism, and enhance cooperation in Party and political work with a focus on popularizing the importance and significance of the special Vietnam-Laos ties. They will also strengthen multilateral cooperation, maintain the annual meeting among three defense ministers of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, raise quality of training and human resources development cooperation, and further the ties in border management and protection.
At the end of the talks, Gen. Phan Van Giang and Sr. Lt. Gen. Khamliang Outhakaysone signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in military and defense law.
Translated by Mai Huong