ĐÀ NẴNG — The Vietnamese Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affair and his Lao counterpart agreed to boost the 2013 Việt Nam-Laos Labour Cooperation Pact and to search for the remains of Vietnamese martyrs and experts who died in Laos during war time.

The conclusion was made at the fifth Việt Nam-Laos Ministerial Conference on Cooperation in Labour and Social Welfare in Đà Nẵng yesterday.

The two sides signed an agreement on the 2017-19 co-operation programmes in boosting labour exchanges and management and manpower training.

As planned, Viêt Nam will continue providing short and long-term scholarships for Lao civil servants under the Vietnamese government’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) fund.

“The two ministries agreed to exchange more law and policy information on employment and labour management. Việt Nam will provide an official list of its authorised job-seeking businesses for Laos employers,” said Vietnamese Minister, Đào Ngọc Dung.

Dung also expressed his thanks for efforts made by Lao counterparts in searching and collecting the remains of Vietnamese martyrs in the past decades.

Khampheng Saysompheng, Laos’s Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, said Laos also hosted conferences on law and policy on employment and labourers for Vietnamese businesses in Vientiane under the Labour Co-operation Pact.

He said the Lao Government has offered favourable conditions for Vietnamese workers in Laos.

The two ministries also shared information exchanges on the topics of salary, safe labour, labour inspection, childcare, and work on behalf of the differently abled and the elderly.

In 2015, Việt Nam supported Laos’s efforts to build a centre for Orthopedics and Rehabilitation with an ODA fund of VNĐ48.6 billion (US$2.1 million).

Locals from Laos and Việt Nam have been boosting human resource training courses for border provinces in the two countries.

Việt Nam’s investments in Laos now totals $5.3 billion in registered capital, with an annual growth rate averaging 30 per cent over the last five years, according to the Association of Việt Nam Investors to Laos.

More than 350 Vietnamese businesses have invested in sectors such as energy, mining, agriculture, forestry and banking in Laos.

Investments registered in Laos account for roughly one quarter of Việt Nam’s overseas investments of $20.2 billion.

Also on the occasion, Việt Nam gave Laos vocational training equipment and facilities with total funds of VNĐ1 billion ($44,200). — VNS