Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính addresses the staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and representative agencies in Laos on Tuesday. — VNA/VNS Photos Dương Giang

VIENTIANE — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính on Tuesday worked with staff of the Vietnamese Embassy and Vietnamese representative agencies in Laos on the occasion of his attendance at the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits and related summits in Vientiane.

At the meeting, Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyễn Minh Tâm said that the embassy has always been proactive and made efforts to contribute to promoting the Việt Nam-Laos relationship, especially implementing agreements reached by the two countries' senior leaders.

He said Việt Nam is among the top three countries with the largest amounts of investment in Laos with total registered capital of over US$5 billion. Two-way trade has exceeded $1 billion so far this year and is heading to $2 billion annually.

About 100,000 Vietnamese people are living, working and studying in Laos. Over the past time, the embassy has always paid attention to supporting the Vietnamese community in Laos, helping them feel secure in doing business and living, contributing to the socio-economic development of Việt Nam and the host country as well as the Việt Nam-Laos relationship.

In particular, the embassy and the Vietnamese community have paid great attention to and organised many activities to honour and promote the preservation and learning of the Vietnamese language.

Vietnamese embassy staff and agency representatives in Laos at the meeting.

Meanwhile, Major General Đào Xuân Lân, Head of the Representative Office of the Ministry of Public Security of Việt Nam in Laos, reported cooperation activities with Lao agencies, especially in crime prevention.

The Ministry of Public Security is currently implementing two projects to support Laos, including one on building a drug rehabilitation centre and another on building a population data system and issuance of citizen identification cards.

Vietnamese Defence Attaché in Laos Colonel Võ Văn Thống affirmed that Vietnamese representative agencies in Laos are always united, and strive to fulfill the tasks assigned by the Party and State.

Thong hoped that the Party and State will continue to pay attention to promoting cooperation in socio-economic development in the border areas between the two countries, and cooperation in human resource training.

PM Chính emphasised that the Việt Nam-Laos relationship is very special, and Vietnamese representative agencies and officials must thoroughly grasp the spirit of sincerity, trust, and openness in this relations.

He said despite many complicated developments in the world and the region in the recent time, the special relationship between Việt Nam and Laos has continued to develop with deeper and more practical and effective cooperation in all fields.

The PM praised the Vietnamese representative agencies in Laos for overcoming difficulties, successfully completing assigned tasks, contributing to promoting the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two countries.

He asked the agencies to further support the development of businesses and entrepreneurs, call for and create conditions for businesses of the two countries to cooperate and invest; create favourable conditions for Vietnamese citizens in Laos to live, study and work.

The Government leader also requested the agencies continue to ensure citizen protection and community building, maintain and promote solidarity, proactively cooperate with representative agencies of ASEAN countries in Laos to contribute to the enhancement of solidarity in ASEAN. — VNA/VNS