The signing ceremony for cooperation plan between Việt Nam's Quảng Trị Province & Thailand’s Mukdahan Province. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Thuỷ

QUẢNG TRỊ — The central province of Quảng Trị and Thailand’s Mukdahan Province signed a cooperation plan for the 2025-2030 period in Đông Hà City on Monday.

The cooperation plan, which is effective from January 1, 2025 to December 31, 2030, covers various fields, including economy, investment, trade and tourism, training, labour, human resources development and communications.

Regarding economic, investment, trade and tourism cooperation, the two provinces will create favourable conditions for businesses of each side to explore and access information on investment potential and opportunities, regularly participate in trade fairs, and develop distribution channels for goods, e-commerce, and businesses connections. The two sides will facilitate the promotion and encouragement of cooperation in tourism, passenger and cargo transport. They will direct functional sectors to build common tours and routes, connect traffic to serve trade and tourism development and coordinate in organising cultural, artistic, physical education and sports exchanges.

On collaboration in training, labour and human resource development, the two sides will consider supporting and encouraging universities and colleges to exchange lecturers and students, and create conditions for educational institutions to implement cooperation contents, including granting scholarships to students. Vocational training, especially high-quality one will be organised along with encouraging cooperation and exchange of labour resources, enhancing labour capacity and qualifications relevant to market needs to meet the labour mobility in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Community.

Regarding communication and promotion activities, the two sides will continue to coordinate and actively participate in events of each country as well as those of provinces on the East-West Economic Corridor. Media agencies regularly exchange and cooperate to introduce the land, people, scenic spots, historical and cultural relic sites of the two sides. Both sides will increase exchange of experience and information on craft village products according to the One Tambon One Product (OTOP) model of Thailand or the One Commune One Product (OCOP) model of Vietnam.

The two localities have agreed to hold a meeting every two years to review the implementation of this cooperation plan, with the next meeting scheduled to take place in Mukdahan province in 2026.

Chairman of the Quảng Tri provincial People's Committee Võ Văn Hưng said the meeting opens up many new opportunities, creating momentum for development in cooperation between the two provinces in the ASEAN Economic Community.

This is an important milestone, demonstrating the determination and goodwill to strengthen cooperation between the two provinces, contributing to promoting good cooperation between the two countries, he added.

Noting that Quảng Tri and Mukdahan are localities on the East-West Economic Corridor with similar cultural features and natural conditions, Hưng hoped that in the coming time, the two provinces would continue to strengthen cooperation in all fields in line with strengths of each side and current trend of deep regional and international integration.

Quảng Tri and Mukdahan signed a cooperation document in January 2005. Since then, they have cooperated and engaged in exchanges in many fields, bringing benefits and development to both countries. — VNS