(KPL/VNA) The Party Central Committee's Commission for Information and Education in collaboration with the Quang Nam provincial Party Committee organised a conference in Tam Ky city on October 16 to discuss measures to strengthen the land border management between Vietnam and Laos.

In his opening remarks, Secretary of the provincial Party Committee Luong Nguyen Minh Triet said Quang Nam shares a land border of over 157 km with Sekong province of Laos. The provincial authorities and sectors have given a priority to the land border management over the past years.

Accordingly, the two provinces have effectively implemented a model of twinned ties between their border villages, which brought about practical results in many aspects, contributing to maintaining political security, and social order and safety in the border areas; strengthening close and familiar relationships between border communities of the two sides, and supporting each other in socio-economic development.

So far, 35 villages in 10 border communes of Tay Giang and Nam Giang districts of Quang Nam have established twinned ties with 16 hamlets in Ka Lum and Dac Chung districts of Sekong province.

Quang Nam's authorities have also created favourable conditions for people from border villages of Sekong to go to medical facilities in Tay Giang and Nam Giang districts for examination and treatment, Triet added.

He also mentioned difficulties that Quang Nam is facing in managing the shared border with Laos due to a lack of awareness regarding border and territorial issues among local residents living along the borderline.

Addressing the event, Standing Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu stated that, in accordance with the Convention on National Border Demarcation signed between Vietnam and Laos in 1977, the two sides have coordinated to demarcate and build border markers along the entire borderline.

The two countries signed a protocol on the Vietnam-Laos border line and national border markers along their boundary on March 16, 2016, an agreement on land border and border gate management regulations to replace the agreement on national border regulations signed on March 1, 1990, and a protocol amending the Vietnam - Laos agreement on national border regulations signed on August 31, 1997.

Based on the signed agreements, the two sides have established a bilateral mechanism to coordinate in managing border areas and border gates at all levels, especially maintaining bilateral patrols, enhancing coordination, and exchange information among various levels and sectors to amicably resolve arising issues, Vu said.

At the conference, participants discussed and proposed solutions to enhance the management of land border between Vietnam and Laos in the coming time.

KPL