During the visit, on the afternoon of November 12, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc met with General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith; held talks with Deputy Prime Minister of Laos Saleumxay Kommasith.
At the meetings, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc respectfully conveyed the greetings of General Secretary To Lam, President Luong Cuong, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man and other leaders of the Party and State of Viet Nam to Thongloun Sisoulith and other senior leaders of Laos; affirming that the Viet Nam-Laos relationship is a very special relationship, developing comprehensively in all fields. Economic and trade relations recorded positive developments with bilateral trade turnover in the first 10 months of 2025 reaching nearly 2.5 billion USD, an increase of 50.4% compared to 2024, making Viet Nam the third largest trade partner of Laos.
Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc congratulated the important, comprehensive achievements in domestic and foreign affairs of historical significance that the Lao Party, State and people have achieved in recent times, especially after 40 years of implementing the renewal process; expressed his firm belief that under the leadership of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, Laos will continue to achieve many new and greater achievements and move towards successfully organising the 12th National Congress of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party in 2026.
At the meeting with General Secretary and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc informed about some highlights of the situation in Viet Nam, reported to Thongloun Sisoulith on the results of the talks with Deputy Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, according to which the two sides comprehensively assessed the cooperation situation between the two countries in recent times; reviewed the implementation of key cooperation projects; exchanged measures to remove difficulties and obstacles.
At the same time, he directed relevant ministries and branches of the two countries to closely coordinate and be determined to develop the Viet Nam-Laos relationship in a substantive and sustainable manner in the new period.
The two sides agreed on a number of key contents and major groups of solutions for a number of specific projects. Currently, the two sides are actively reviewing the results of the implementation of the contents of the 47th Session to prepare for the upcoming Viet Nam-Laos Intergovernmental Committee Meeting.
Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc expressed his hope that senior Lao leaders would continue to pay attention and direct relevant Lao agencies to pay attention to resolving difficulties and problems of a number of Vietnamese enterprises, continue to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises investing in Laos, especially encourage large Vietnamese corporations to invest and do business, contributing to the construction and socio-economic development of Laos.
Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith highly appreciated the active performance of the two Deputy Prime Ministers of Laos and Viet Nam in carrying out their tasks; emphasised that the assessment and review of the implementation of the High-level Agreement between the two Parties and the two countries, and the content of the agreement of the 47th Meeting of the Laos-Viet Nam Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee in the past time was very practical, this is an important step to review and prepare well for the 48th Meeting of the Laos-Viet Nam Intergovernmental Cooperation Committee.
Lao General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith suggested that the two sides continue to promote the achieved results, focus on promoting integration, connecting the two countries’ economies, first of all, connecting transport, creating favorable conditions for the implementation of the Agreements of the High-level Leaders of the two Parties and the two States, especially the strategic cooperation projects to soon become reality.
Earlier, in the afternoon of the same day, at a meeting with Lao Deputy Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith, Deputy Prime Minister Ho Duc Phoc shared about the socio-economic situation of Viet Nam in recent times; discussed the bilateral cooperation relationship which continues to have strong developments, in which political relations are maintained closely, demonstrated through many high-level exchanges and contacts.
The two Deputy Prime Ministers agreed that economic, trade and investment cooperation between the two countries continues to have strong developments with many bright spots; many difficulties and obstacles in key cooperation projects have been effectively coordinated and handled.
In addition, cooperation in other areas such as transport connectivity, education-training, culture, people-to-people exchange, as well as coordination at regional and international forums, have all achieved practical results. Cooperation between ministries, sectors and localities, especially in border areas, has increasingly deepened, contributing to consolidating and further strengthening the special solidarity relationship between Viet Nam and Laos.
