Present at the event were Senior Lieutenant General Souvone Leuangbounmy, member of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, Deputy-Defense Minister, and Chief-of-the-General Staff of the Laos People’s Army; Senior Lieutenant General Phan Van Giang, member of the Party Central Committee, permanent member of the Central Military Commission, Chief-of-the-General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy-Defense Minister; members of the visiting high-ranking Lao military delegation; representatives from functional agencies under the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam and leadership of the Commando Corps.

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Senior Lieutenant General Souvone Leuangbounmy pinning the Laos’ first-class Itsala Order onto the Commando Corps' flag

In his speech, the Corps’ Commander Major General Do Thanh Binh recalled important landmarks in the cooperation between the two countries’ commando forces and in realizing the Party’s guidelines and standpoints as well as the direction of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense on doing international service as well as external defense service.

Over the past 50 years, generations of the Corps’ cadres and troops have paid due attention to building and developing friendship and the spirit of international solidarity with traditional friends, especially with the Lao military and people in wartime and in the national construction and protection cause.

In line with the cooperation plans between the two defense ministries, the Commando Corps has actively assisted Commando Department 49 of the General Staff of the Lao People’s Army in different fields, contributing to improving Lao troops’ expertise and technical knowledge to help build the Lao military in general and commando force in particular. The outcomes of the cooperation were highly applauded and acknowledged by the Lao side.

The Commando Corps previously had been awarded Laos’ second and third-class Itsala Orders.

Translated by Mai Huong