Lao, Thai leaders vow to strengthen cooperation

VIENTIANE, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) — Laos and Thailand have agreed to consolidate cooperative relations between the two countries, Lao state-owned KPL News reported on Monday.

The consensus was reached during Thailand’s new Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s whirlwind visit to Laos on Sept. 16, before returning to Thailand.

During bilateral talks at the Lao government office in Vientiane, Yingluck reaffirmed her desire to strengthen trade cooperation, investment and tourism links between the two countries, and to continue to buy electricity from Laos as agreed by the two governments in previous years.

Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong said the Lao government will continue to work closely with Thailand to address issues related to the illegal migration of Lao people to Thailand, and to survey and demarcate the two countries’ shared border.

Thongsing also expressed appreciation to the Thai government and people for their kind assistance to Laos in the past, which has contributed considerably to the country’s socio-economic development and improvements to the living conditions of the Lao people.

Yingluck also used the occasion to present 2.5 billion baht ( around 75 million U.S. dollars) on behalf of the Thai government to assist Laos’ recent flood victims, and two million baht (around 6,000 U.S. dollars) to renovate secondary schools in Laos’ eastern province of Houaphan in order to boost human resource development.

Thongsing invited Yingluck to attend the Ninth Asia-Europe Meeting and the Fifth Ayeyawady-chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy Meeting, which will both be hosted by Laos next year.

On the same day, Yingluck visited Laos’ President Choummaly Sayasone and President of the Lao National Assembly Pany Yathortou.

Thailand is one of the major foreign investors in Laos, having invested in 276 projects worth 2.68 billion U.S. dollars over the past decade, according to the state-owned Vientiane Times.

Bilateral trade between Laos and Thailand reached 2.1 billion U. S. dollars in 2009, which rose to 2.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2010.

Yingluck’s one-day visit to Laos came at the invitation of Thongsing and was the fourth stop on her tour to Southeast Asian nations after being elected as the first Thai female Prime Minister in July.