This morning (December 18), at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense, General Phan Van Giang - Politburo member, Deputy Secretary of the Central Military Commission, Minister of National Defense of Vietnam - chaired the welcoming ceremony for Senior Lieutenant General Khamliang Outhakaysone - Member of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, Minister of National Defense of Laos - to officially visit Vietnam and attend the Vietnam International Defense Exhibition 2024.
Attending the welcoming ceremony were Senior Lieutenant General Phung Si Tan - Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army (VPA); Senior Lieutenant General Le Quang Minh - Deputy Director of the General Department of Politics of the Vietnam People's Army.
At the meeting after the welcoming ceremony, on behalf of the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam, General Phan Van Giang congratulated Senior Lieutenant General Khamliang Outhakaysone on his recent appointment as Minister of National Defense of Laos.
General Phan Van Giang thanked Senior Lieutenant General Khamliang Outhakaysone for accepting the invitation to attend the Vietnam International Defense Exhibition 2024, the 80th Anniversary of the Vietnam People's Army and the 35th Anniversary of National Defense Day; and for sending defense enterprises to participate in displaying and introducing products at the exhibition.
General Phan Van Giang affirmed that Vietnam-Laos defense cooperation has achieved great and substantial results in recent times, and is one of the important pillars of the Vietnam-Laos bilateral relationship.
After 5 years of implementing the Cooperation Decree for the 2020-2024 period between the two countries' Ministries of National Defense, the two sides have achieved important results, notably: high political and strategic trust, solidarity and close ties between the two countries' armies are increasingly consolidated; forms and mechanisms of cooperation are increasingly diverse, spreading more deeply and widely; security and order in the border areas of the two countries are increasingly consolidated; cooperation in human resource training is increasingly valued.
General Phan Van Giang suggested that in the coming time, the two sides focus on effectively and comprehensively implementing the Protocol on defense cooperation for the 2025-2029 period and the cooperation plan for 2025.
In particular, fully and effectively deploy cooperation mechanisms, especially the defense policy dialogue mechanism; strengthen multilateral cooperation, maintain the annual meeting mechanism between the three defense ministers of Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia; improve the quality of cooperation in training and human resource development; and strengthen cooperation in border management and protection.
At the meeting, Senior Lieutenant General Khamliang Outhakaysone sent congratulations on the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Vietnam People's Army and the 35th anniversary of National Defense Day.
Senior Lieutenant General Khamliang Outhakaysone said this was his first foreign visit as Minister of National Defense of Laos, demonstrating the importance of relations with Vietnam.
After the talks, the two ministers signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in building military and defense laws.
