(KPL/VNA) Defence Minister Phan Van Giang held talks with his Lao counterpart Khamliang Outhakaysone on December 18 during the latter's official visit to Vietnam and attendance at the Vietnam International Defence Expo 2024.

Minister Giang congratulated Laos on its successful organisation of the ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM), the ADMM-Plus, and other related meetings between ASEAN defence ministers and their partners. He noted that these events have significantly contributed to the success of Laos’ ASEAN Chairmanship in 2024, further enhancing ASEAN’s solidarity, centrality, and Laos’ international standing.

Minister Outhakaysone extended his congratulations to the Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) on its 80th founding anniversary and highlighted the VPA's remarkable growth.

Both sides acknowledged that Vietnam-Laos defence cooperation, particularly the implementation of the protocol on defence cooperation for the 2020–2024 period, has yielded significant and substantive outcomes in recent years,

Highlights include a higher level of strategic political trust, stronger solidarity between the armed forces of both countries, more diverse cooperation mechanisms and formats, strengthened security and order along the shared border, and greater focus on human resource training with improvements in both quality and quantity. Cooperation in building defence capacity and the defence industry has become more targeted and effective.

Both ministers praised the successful organisation of the second Vietnam-Laos Defence Border Friendship Exchange in October 2024, which created a positive ripple effect, fostering solidarity and mutual support between the Parties, States, armed forces, local governments, and people of Vietnam and Laos.

Looking ahead, the two ministers committed to the comprehensive and effective implementation of the protocol on defence cooperation for the 2025–2029 period and the 2025 cooperation plan. Key priorities include enhancing the effectiveness of the defence policy dialogue mechanism and maintaining the annual trilateral meeting of the defence ministers of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.

Collaboration on Party and political work will be strengthened with an emphasis on promoting awareness of history, significance, and importance of the special Vietnam-Laos relationship. The two sides will work closely together to advance cooperation in training, human resource development, and border management

Following the talks, the two defence ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in military and defence law.

KPL