Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese president, met in
Vientiane yesterday with Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh on
ways to further bilateral relations and cooperation.
President Hu was here on a state visit at the invitation of
Choummaly Sayasone, general secretary of the Central Committee of
the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and the Lao president.
Recent years have witnessed all-round and in-depth development
of relations between the two parties and the two countries, marked
by the mutual political trust and mutually-beneficial economic
cooperation between them and mutual support in international
affairs, Hu noted.
China and Laos are true good neighbors, friends, comrades and
partners and the Chinese-Lao friendship has become the common
treasure to the two peoples, he said.
Speaking highly of China-Laos relations, Bouasone noted the
excellent cooperation between the two countries in politics,
defense, public security and diplomacy, and he said their trade and
economic ties are also growing fast.
Chinese investment in Laos is helping the country to give fuller
play to its economic advantages as well as its poverty relief
efforts, Bouasone said.
President Hu said there is a good momentum for the development
of bilateral trade and economic cooperation and that what the
countries should do next is tap the potentials of cooperation and
raise the cooperation levels.
He called for expanding bilateral trade and deepening mutually
beneficial cooperation, including those in border areas.
Bouasone said Hu's visit has brought the existing friendly
relations and cooperation between the two countries to a new height
and that the Lao central and local governments would implement in
real earnest the consensus reached by the top leaders of the two
countries regarding cooperation in various areas.
Hu arrived here from Vietnam where he paid a state visit and
attended the 14th APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic
Leaders' Meeting from November 17 to 19 in Hanoi.
Laos is the second leg of Hu's four-nation tour, which will also
take him to India and Pakistan.
(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2006)
