The two defence ministers of Việt Nam and Laos witness the joint border patrol of the two countries held on Sunday. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The national defence cooperation between Việt Nam and Laos has achieved positive results in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the defence ministers of the two countries during talks held on Sunday.

The talks were held between Vietnamese National Defence Minister General Phan Văn Giang and Lao Minister of National Defence General Chansamone Chanyalath in central Quảng Trị Province amid the framework of the first Việt Nam-Laos Border Defence Friendship Exchange.

The two sides completed cooperation mechanisms by signing agreements on national defence cooperation, boosted cooperation in search and rescue works and training, and supported each other in the COVID-19 prevention and control.

Particularly, the two sides successfully organised the first Việt Nam-Laos Border Defence Friendship Exchange earlier the same day. This is one of the key tasks in the 2021 cooperation plan between the two ministries.

Regarding future cooperation, the two ministers agreed with contents discussed at the Dialogue of Defence Policy at the deputy minister level held earlier between the two countries and agreed on some key orientations, including promoting cooperation in political work, education and information dissemination to raise awareness of people and soldiers of the two countries about the special and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, States, peoples and armies; and in training to improve the capacity of staff.

The two sides will also continue to coordinate to complete legal framework via promoting the signing of agreements on fields that needed cooperation between the two countries and maintaining cooperation mechanisms.

At the talks, Minister Giang expressed thanks to the Lao Ministry of National Defence for coordinating with its Vietnamese counterpart to successfully organise the first national defence border friendship exchange.

Giang said the COVID-19 pandemic continued to develop complicatedly and Việt Nam was willing to support Laos when needed.

He proposed to boost relations between armies of Việt Nam, Cambodia and Laos, including maintaining regular meetings between national defence ministers of the three countries.

Lao minister Chansamone expressed his delights at the first national defence friendship exchange held between the two countries, saying that it would mark a milestone in lifting the security cooperation between the two countries to a new level.

After the talks, the two ministers signed a protocol on search and rescue cooperation and the Việt Nam-Laos national defence cooperation plan in 2022 and witnessed the signing of the agreement on border guard cooperation between the two countries.

Representatives of the Border Guard Command under the Ministry of Defence of Việt Nam and the Border Guard Department of the General Staff of the Lao People's Army held a conference to review three years of implementing their cooperation agreement on Saturday in  Quảng Trị Province. — VNS