HÀ NỘI – Vietnamese and Lao legislators shared experience in management decentralisation from central to grassroots levels during a workshop held in Hà Nội yesterday.

Lao National Assembly Chairwoman Pany Yathoutou and Vietnam National Assembly Vice Chairwoman Tòng Thị Phóng co-chaired the event, which demonstrated the role and duties of the two countries’ legislatures in State management.

Phóng said Vietnam promulgated the Law on Local Government Organisation in 2015 to address shortcomings in the 2003 Law on Organisation of the People’s Councils and People’s Committees, and the government has reformed local authorities to promote their autonomy, self-responsibility, and management efficiency.

Pany Yathoutou said Laos has gained significant outcomes in the field and hopes to exchange more experience with Vietnamese delegates to finalise policies and documents.

During the workshop, Vietnamese and Lao delegates discussed the legal document system on the apparatus of elected and administrative bodies and governments in the respective countries.

Addressing the event, Việt Nam’s National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân said the workshop is one of the important political activities in early 2017 to mark the 55th founding anniversary of Việt Nam – Laos diplomatic ties and the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Vietnam – Laos Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.

This is the second symposium in the 14th tenure of Việt Nam’s National Assembly and the eighth tenure of the Lao National Assembly, she said, noting that the first one was jointly hosted by the two countries’ legislatures in Laos in September 2016, focusing on the public debt management.

The co-organisation of such event is expected to improve cooperation efficiency between Việt Nam and Laos, especially in law-building, she added.

She stressed the need to increase State operational quality and efficiency and to clearly define the mechanisms, authorities and responsibilities of State-run agencies in exercising legislative, executive and judicial powers.

Top Vietnamese and Lao legislators agreed to entrust the NA Committees for External Relations to host more symposia to strengthen cooperation between the two law-making bodies and further promote the two countries’ traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation. — VNS