VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) - Laos and Russia have agreed to work together in the areas of trade, economics, and scientific and technical cooperation to further their bilateral relationship.
Lao Minister of Planning and Investment, Dr Souphanh Keomixay, and Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation, Mr Konstantin Noskov, signed an agreement to cooperate in these areas, during Dr Souphanh’s visit to the Russian Federation last week.
Under the agreement, the two parties will implement the agreed areas of cooperation through joint participation.
The measures will be taken in the period between Sessions of the Commission on strengthening the legal base of bilateral relations.
These include the signing of an agreement on Cooperation between the Executive Office of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and the Committee on Defence and Security of the Central Committee of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, according to a report provided to the ministry.
Both sides agreed to take measures to further improve the legal basis of Russian-Lao cooperation by working towards finalising the following drafts of bilateral documents which are now under consideration.
These are the Treaty between the Russian Federation and the Lao PDR on legal assistance in criminal matters; Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Lao PDR on cooperation in the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes; and a Memorandum between the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Laos on cooperation in geological exploration and subsoil development.
In addition, the two sides committed to work towards a programme of cooperation in education between the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Education and Sports of the Lao PDR for the years 2019-2024.
They will also create a Working Group for the realisation of an agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Lao PDR on Mutual Intellectual Property Protection in the Course of Military-Technical Cooperation, which was signed in December 2016.
Both sides expressed interest in the early ratification by Laos of the Treaty on Transfer of Sentenced Persons between the Russian Federation, signed on September 26, 2017, in Moscow.
The Lao side informed the Russian side that this treaty has been submitted to the National Assembly for consideration of its ratification.
Both sides welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom” of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Laos on cooperation in shaping positive public opinion on nuclear energy and an MOU on cooperation in nuclear energy training and skills development in Laos during the 15th Session of the Commission.
