Minister of Home Affairs Phạm Thị Thanh Trà and Lao counterpart Thongchanh Manixay on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the 2023-2026 period. — VNA/VNS Photo Phạm Kiên

HÀ NỘI — Minister of Home Affairs Phạm Thị Thanh Trà held a working session in Hà Nội on Tuesday with her Lao counterpart Thongchanh Manixay, during which both sides expressed delight at the close cooperation between the two ministries and the fruitful outcomes of joint activities.

The two ministries have enjoyed effective partnership in high-level delegation exchange, personnel training for the Lao side, experience sharing in administrative reform and religious affairs, and the building of a national archive centre of Laos, said Trà. 

She said that the Ministry of Home Affairs of Việt Nam was focusing on reshuffling, speeding up administrative reform, decentralisation and power delegation, and renovating the local administration operations. It was working on two draft laws and many resolutions as well as other legal documents.

The ministry had streamlined the administrative apparatus by reducing 8 districts and 563 communes, along with 10 per cent administrative units and 13.5 per cent non-business units. The number of civil servants had decreased by 10.01 per cent, while that of public employees had reduced by 11.67 per cent, she said.

For his part, Thongchanh Manixay said that the Lao Ministry of Home Affairs was established in 2011, thus the Lao side hoped to learn from the professional experience of Việt Nam, especially in State management over religious affairs, local administration management, and the building of communal-level administrative units.

The minister briefed his host on a number of achievements that his ministry had gained so far, including simplifying its organisation.

The two sides agreed that despite the positive cooperation results, the partnership between the two sides had yet to meet expectations due to the impact of COVID-19.

To deepen bilateral cooperation in the 2023-2026 period, they will increase the exchange of high-level delegations and cooperation in personnel training as well as experience sharing, while working together on a project on the digitisation of the Lao Ministry of Home Affairs to submit to the Laos-Việt Nam, Việt Nam-Laos Cooperation Committees and the two Governments. 

Following the working session, the two ministries signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the 2023-2026 period.

Under the deal, the Ministry of Home Affairs of Việt Nam will send lecturers and experts to Laos to help with the building of legal policies and organise short-term training courses for Lao officials in different fields following requests from the Lao side.

Each year, Việt Nam will also receive delegations of Lao officials with about 20 officials each to join 1-3-month courses on fields under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs. — VNS