Vietnamese State President Vo Van Thuong and a high-ranking delegation of Vietnam will pay an official visit to neighboring Laos from April 10 to 11, marking his inaugural foreign trip as Vietnamese State leader.

The visit will be made at the invitation of the General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

The visit takes place at a time the Vietnam-Laos bilateral relations are advancing.

Over the past year, the two Southeast Asian nations made many high-ranking delegation exchanges, in addition to holding multiple meaningful events in celebration of their 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the bilateral Treaty of Amity and Cooperation.

In July 2022, the then permanent member of the Party Central Committee’s Secretariat of Vietnam Vo Van Thuong visited Laos on the occasion of the two anniversaries.

The two countries also continue to strengthen their bilateral cooperation in national defense and security through cooperation deals between the two ministries of National Defense and Public Security.

Their economic, trade, and investment cooperation was also promoted, with two-way trade reaching nearly US$1.7 billion last year, up over 25 percent.

Vietnam remained the third largest investor in Laos. It currently has 219 valid investment projects in Laos, with total pledged capital of roughly $4.7 billion.

Last year, both sides also broke ground on, inaugurated and handed over a number of projects tapping the Vietnamese government’s financial aid offered to Laos.

Vietnam in 2022 also poured $70 million to invest in five new projects and adjust up the capital of four others, up 46 percent year on year.

Besides, the two nations beefed up their cooperation in education, culture, and tourism after they reopened doors to international visitors post-pandemic.

Vietnam granted 1,155 scholarships to Lao students to study in the former, while Laos offered 60 scholarships to the Vietnam side last year.

At present, around 14,000 Lao students are studying at 160 educational institutions in Vietnam, according to the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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