Minh Chinh was received at the airport by the Minister and Head of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister Alounxai Sounnalath and Deputy Foreign Minister Phoxay Khaykhamphithoune, and immediately afterwards laid a wreath at a memorial dedicated to the Unknown Martyrs of Laos.
Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone then led the official welcoming ceremony for Minh Chinh and the delegation accompanying him on their first official visit to the neighboring country.
According to the released program, Minh Chinh will hold talks with his counterpart Siphandone and pay a courtesy visit to the Secretary-General of the People’s Revolutionary Party and President of Laos, Thongloun Sisoulith, during his stay in the capital.
In addition, he will hold a meeting with the Speaker of the National Assembly Saysomphone Phomvihane, attend the closing ceremony of the Year of Friendship and Solidarity between the two nations, and engage in dialogue with the Vietnamese community residing in that nation.
Minh Chinh will also co-chair the 45th meeting of the Vietnam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee, which will review achievements in bilateral relations in 2022 and set the main directions for the current year.
Vietnam and Laos officially established diplomatic relations on September 5, 1962, opening a new stage in the history of bilateral relations. Three decades later, in 1992, the Committee for Intergovernmental Cooperation was formed.
In 2022, trade exchanges between the two countries were estimated at $1.63 billion, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.
Vietnam is now the third largest investor in Laos with 238 valid projects valued at an estimated $5.34 billion and around 14,000 young Laotian students are currently studying in 160 Vietnamese educational centers.
Tourist movement between both nations is still limited, according to the VNA news agency, in the first nine months of 2022, Laos received about 197,000 Vietnamese visitors, while about 26,000 Laotian tourists arrived in Vietnam.
ode/mpm