The cooperation between Luang Prabang province and Vietnam in many fields has met with great success.         --Photo Vansay Tavinyan & Lamphone

 Luang Prabang, Vietnam boost provincial ties

This story marks the Laos-Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022 and celebrates the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Laos-Vietnam Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation.
 
Ongoing cooperation between Luang Prabang province and Vietnam is aimed at strengthening the relationship and special friendship between the two Parties and states as well as between provinces, with the two sides assisting each other in line with their potential and circumstances.
From 2016-2020, reciprocal visits between high-ranking officials from Luang Prabang province and several provinces in Vietnam resulted in the formulation of cooperation policies, with officials evaluating past and current cooperation and drawing up plans for the future.
These close ties have broadened cooperation in many fields and achieved considerable success.
From 2016-2020, provinces in Vietnam provided funding for the development of human resources in Laos, offering more than 100 scholarships for study in Vietnam.
In 2017, Vietnam provided grants amounting to US$200,000 and 24 billion Vietnamese dong for the construction of schools and vocational training to improve Lao people’s livelihoods.
Vietnam also provides funding to support the information, culture and tourism, and health sectors in Laos, which has been particularly beneficial to Luang Prabang province.
The cooperation between Luang Prabang province and Vietnam in many fields has met with great success, with the two neighbours able to boost their economies through the increased production of goods for local sale and export.
From 2016-2020, Vietnam also provided about 1,200 million Vietnamese dong to support agriculture in Laos, which included the introduction of new orange varieties, improvement of access to water sources, and the provision of polytunnels.
Vietnamese officials taught officials and farmers in Luang Prabang province about crop pest prevention, cultivation methods, and livestock breeding.
Dien Bien province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development sent officials to Luang Prabang to teach people how to make paper from jute.
Meanwhile, industry and commerce officials in Luang Prabang have worked to bolster imports and exports, and general trade, and have encouraged local businesses to produce goods that benefit both the Lao and Vietnamese sides.
From 2016-20, the value of imports, exports and services traded between Luang Prabang and Dien Bien provinces amounted to US$47.5 million. Exports were valued at US$19.9 million and imports at about US$27.6 million.
Luang Prabang and Vietnamese provinces plan to continue economic investment, promote trade, and improve policies in accordance with laws and regulations to support business operations and investment in all sectors.
They will advise the related sectors about ways to ease red tape and streamline entry and exit procedures between the two countries, to facilitate trade.
Officials will promote the production of goods that are uniquely characteristic of the two countries, in order to perpetuate traditions and sustain local folk wisdom.
The two sides will carry out agreements made with respect to border trading, so that trade ties are more productive. Luang Prabang and neighbouring provinces in Vietnam will work towards the building of a border market in 2025.
They will broaden policies with regard to imports, exports and border trade, and set special fees for the import and export of goods between the two countries.
Neighbouring provinces will build cooperation and continue to encourage Vietnamese businesses to invest in Laos. They will work to transform agricultural produce into value-added products, learn lessons from one another, and take part in joint production methods agreed to under Memorandums of Understanding signed by both parties.
With regard to communication and transport between Luang Prabang province and provinces in Vietnam, there are now more land and air routes between Dien Bien and Luang Prabang, and between Luang Prabang and Hanoi and other areas of Vietnam.
Passenger transport services are continually being upgraded, while the transport of goods is also becoming more efficient.
National defence and public security are also priorities in cooperation between Luang Prabang and Vietnamese provinces in order to foster unity and security so that the peoples of the two countries coexist peacefully and as friends. 
In the past, border defence units in Luang Prabang province and Dien Bien and Sonla provinces in Vietnam have worked together and reported both internal and external events to provincial authorities.
They have patrolled borders and carried out checks on border markers, and taken steps to resolve issues in relation to their shared border. In addition, they have worked to facilitate cross-border travel and trade in ways that are compliant with the two countries’ laws.
There are plans to strengthen the national defence and public security forces, in order to maintain stability, order and security, which is seen as fundamental to social and economic development in Laos and Vietnam.
More attention will be paid to suppressing problems that are obstacles to development, such as drug trafficking, illegal immigration, and other offences.
Border controls will be strengthened in order to prevent people moving across borders illegally, as well as illicit marriages between people on either side of the Laos-Vietnam border.

By  Vansay Tavinyan & Lamphone
(Latest Update July 13, 2022)