(KPL) Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone, in response to an invitation from his Singaporean counterpart Lawrence Wong, arrived in Singapore on July 9 along with a high-level delegation.

The visit aims to bolster the longstanding friendship and cooperation between the two nations, coinciding with the celebration of their 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties.

A welcoming ceremony for Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone was hosted at the National Assembly of Singapore on the same day, followed by a bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers where PM Sonexay expressed his sincere congratulations to Mr Lawrence Wong on his appointment to the post as the fourth Prime Minister of Singapore last May.

PM Siphandone expressed his pleasure in collaborating with the Singaporean leader to achieve new milestones in their years of cooperation, aiming to accelerate cooperation in politic and economic fields.

Both premiers informed each other about the socio-economic development situation of their respective countries and reviewed their cooperation over the past years.

They noted that the cooperation both under bilateral and multilateral frameworks, including ASEAN and the UN, has been growing constantly and yielded satisfactory results.

The two leaders spoke highly of the initiation of the Lao-Singapore bilateral consultation mechanism (Bilateral Consultations) in October 2023 which is designed to monitor and encourage the bilateral sector in implementing the agreements signed by leaders of the two countries.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Lao-Singapore diplomatic relations with many activities organized and planned.

Both sides agreed to continue to encourage their relevant authorities to implement the cooperation plans and projects of the two governments to achieve the expected results, especially cooperation in politics, economy and trade, investment, clean and renewable energy, rare earths, agriculture, natural resources, capacity building, education, health, human resource development, tourism and other potential sectors.

Both sides also agreed to promote cooperation in regional and international development, especially strengthening the ASEAN community for the success of Lao PDR's ASEAN chairmanship in 2024.

On this occasion, Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone expressed his sincere gratitude for the cooperation and support of the government and people of Singapore throughout the past period, such as for human resource development through providing training opportunities for civil servants, diplomats and senior leaders of the Lao PDR, developing skills, dispatching of volunteers, teachers and experts to work in Laos, and support for the Lao PDR for its rotary chair of ASEAN in 2024.

Singaporean PM Lawrence Wong reaffirmed his view of continuing to provide cooperation and support to the Lao PDR over years to come, especially for the Lao PDR's ASEAN chairmanship 2024.

After the meeting, the two leaders also witnessed the signing of two Laos-Singapore cooperation documents, namely: the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of education between the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Lao PDR and the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Singapore and the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation under the Paris Convention Article 6 on carbon credits between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Lao PDR and the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore.

The latest annual bilateral trade between Laos and Singapore is valued at 182.5 million US dollars (with Laos’s exports sharing more than 96.3 million US dollars and its imports worth over 86.1 million US dollars). Singapore's investment in the Lao PDR is worth 362 million US dollars in 83 projects.

KPL