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Senior Lieutenant General Thongloi Silivong welcoming General Luong Cuong (right) to Laos in November, 2022 |
The Vietnam visit of Senior Lieutenant General Thongloi Silivong and the LPA’s delegation aims to maintain high-level meeting between the two sides and is an opportunity for the two militaries to exchange and agree on the direction of cooperation in Party and political work in the coming time, especially in 2024 on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the foundation day of the Vietnam People's Army (December 22, 1944 - 2024) and the 75th anniversary of LPA’s foundation day (January 20, 1949 – 2024.)
As two neighboring countries with time-honored relationship and solidarity, Vietnam and Laos have together gone through countless hardships and challenges to build a special friendship and solidarity which is “deeper than the Hong Ha (Red) and Cuu Long (Mekong) rivers,” “stronger than mountains and rivers,” and “brighter than the full moon and more fragrant than the most fragrant flower in the world.”
In the national construction and defense cause, under the light of Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's thought in Vietnam, Marxism-Leninism and Kaysone Phomvihane’s thought in Laos, the two countries have continued to stand side by side and cooperate to build independent and self-reliant economies, pro-actively integrating into the world and moving towards socialism.
Over the past years, the Vietnam - Laos and Laos - Vietnam great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation have been continuously expanded and developed, bringing about benefits for the people of both countries. Since the defense cooperation is considered an important pillar of Vietnam - Laos relations, the VPA and the LPA have determined that the Party and political work is one of the important fields in their cooperation. It has been comprehensively, intensively, practically, and effectively implemented, contributing to building politically-, ideologically-, organizationally- and ethically-strong militaries.
Over the past time, the two GDPs have worked together to disseminate information about the history, meaning, and importance of the great friendship, special solidarity, and comprehensive cooperation between the two parties, states, militaries and peoples. Most recently, the two sides successfully organized a series of activities within the "Vietnam - Laos, Laos - Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022" to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties (September 5, 1962 - 2022) and 45 years since the signing of the countries’ Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (July 18, 1977 – 2022.
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Vietnamese and Lao delegations in a joint photo taken on November 2022 |
The two sides have accelerated sharing of practical experience in organizing Party and political work in the military in each country; carried out policy work; speeded up the process of searching, gathering, and repatriating the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and advisors who laid down their lives in Laos while conducting international duties; brought into play the efficiency of exchanges and twinning models in border areas.
In addition, cooperation in building human resources has been paid special attention to by both sides. They have considered the work a long-term strategic mission which has truly become a symbol of bilateral defense cooperation in general and cooperation in Party and political work in particular. A typical example is the two sides’ collaboration in building important projects, including the LPA’s Political Theory School and the Culture School.
With the above-mentioned results, we believe that the official visit to Vietnam by Senior Lieutenant General Thongloi Silivong and the LPA’s high-level political delegation will be a success, contributing to consolidating political trust and close solidarity between the two countries in general and the two militaries in particular.
Translated by Tran Hoai