On the afternoon of February 5, in Vientiane, Laos, within the framework of the state visit to Laos by General Secretary To Lam, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh had a meeting with Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone expressed their excitement at the comprehensive and very impressive cooperation results achieved in the past time, which have been concretized into many important task groups that have been completed.
Accordingly, the political and diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Laos continue to be consolidated and raised to the highest level of trust, with the two sides agreeing to add a new content to the bilateral relationship as "strategic cohesion", defined as a long-term political commitment, closely linked in vision, interests and action.
The two sides agreed that defense and security cooperation will continue to play a pillar role, contributing to ensuring security, safety and stability for each country. Economic, trade and investment cooperation has achieved outstanding development, becoming an important driving force in the relations between the two countries.
The two Prime Ministers also emphasized the outstanding results in the fields of trade and investment cooperation, banking, and finance between the two countries. With the determination and joint efforts of both sides, Vietnam - Laos bilateral trade turnover in the past time has made a leap, reaching nearly 3 billion USD in 2025; of which Vietnam's investment in Laos reached more than 5.6 billion USD, 7 times higher than the same period in 2024, raising the total accumulated capital to 6.21 billion USD with 276 projects, making Laos the country receiving the most overseas investment projects of Vietnamese enterprises.
Financial - banking cooperation recorded strong and breakthrough changes, especially the announcement and deployment of the payment framework in the local currency and the connection of bilateral retail payments via QR codes, contributing to reducing dependence on intermediate currencies, creating favorable conditions for trade, investment and tourism between the two countries, and at the same time showing proactiveness and sensitivity in approaching modern bilateral currency trading trends in the world.
The two leaders highly appreciated the fact that the two sides focused on definitively handling many long-term projects, obstacles for many years, and at the same time promoting the progress of important cooperation projects; inaugurated and handed over 5 typical projects, including: Pier No. 3 - Vung Ang Port; Drug rehabilitation center in Vientiane; Laos - Vietnam Friendship Park in Vientiane Capital; Hua Phan Provincial Friendship Hospital; and basically completed and prepared to transfer the Population Management System and Citizen Identification Project to the Lao side.
