Thailand
NA President hails Laos-Cambodia bilateral relations, cooperation
The Lao side highly values the relations and cooperation between Laos and Cambodia, President of the National Assembly (NA), MsPanyYathotou told her visiting Cambodian counterpart HengSamrin in their meeting yesterday in the capital.
MrHengSamrin is paying an official goodwill visit to Laos from June 21-23 in response to an invitation from MsPany.
In their meeting yesterday at the Lao National Convention Centre in Vientiane, MsPany told her counterpart that the Lao side was delighted and highly valued the long-standing fruitful relations and cooperation between the two states in general and the two NAs in particular.
She said bilateral relations and cooperation between both sides continued to grow, deepen and had been effective over the passing years.
MsPany spoke highly of the relations and cooperation between the two parliaments over the past years that witness growing relations and cooperation.
Such relations and cooperation have been made possible thanks to the Memorandum of Understating on cooperation between the two parliaments which MsPany and MrHengSamrin signed in 2012.
To deepen the bilateral relations and cooperation further, MsPany proposed that the two NAs should continue to exchange visits of their delegations at various levels.
She pressed the need for the two parliaments to encourage the two governments to realise cooperation agreements both sides had agreed upon while promoting greater investment and tourism between the nations as well as joint initiatives in other fields.
The Lao NA president called for Laos and Cambodia to continue to extend mutual support to one another in the regional and international arena. MsPany also spoke highly of the opening of the NongNokkheane-TrapeangKriel international border checkpoint that was opened on January 10 this year.
Yesterday’s meeting noted the progress Laos and Cambodia had made on border demarcation in which both sides completed installing 126 markers along 456 km that represented 87 percent of the 535 km total length of the shared border.
MsPany encouraged the governments of both sides to continue to work together toward completing demarcation of the remaining borderline in order to create the Lao and Cambodian border as a border of peace, friendship and development.
The Lao NA president noted that the two countries have witnessed growing bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, investment, tourism, education health and other areas in recent years.
Leaders of both sides had regularly exchanged visits, with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen paying a goodwill visit to Laos in August 2016.
Meanwhile, Lao Prime Minister ThonglounSisoulith visited Cambodia in May this year to attend the World Economic Forum on Asean. On this occasion, the two prime ministers also held talks and agreed on future cooperation in various fields.
Two-way investment value has increased from US$10 million to US$84 million.
Laos and Cambodia have extended mutual support to each other in the international arena contributing to safeguarding and promoting peace, stability, cooperation and development in the region and world as large.
Representing the Lao parliament, MsPany congratulated Cambodia for the achievements it has made in the socio-economic development over the passing years.
She informed the guests that Laos has also enjoyed political stability with high-level economic growth.
Last year, Laos registered economic growth of 7.02 percent amounting to 129,279 billion kip with gross domestic product (GDP) per capita reaching US$2,408 among its 6.6 million population while numbers of poor families nationwide declined from 6.59 percent in 2015 to 6.3 percent in 2016.
On the same day, MrHengSamrin called on President BounnhangVorachit and Prime Minister ThonglounSisoulith.
MsPany also hosted banquet dinner in honour of the visit of MrHengSamrin.
During his visit to Laos, MrHengSamrin was also scheduled to visit a number of historical and tourist sites in Vientiane.
Source: http://www.vientianetimes.org.la/FreeContent/FreeConten_NA.html