9 Vietnamese and 10 Lao provinces along the shared borderline will participate in the third cultural, sports and tourism exchange festival, scheduled to be held in the northern province of Dien Bien in September, VNA reported Monday.

People-to-people diplomacy as an important diplomatic channel between Vietnam and Laos.

The event aims to celebrate the 60th founding anniversary of diplomatic ties and 40 years since the signing of the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation between the two countries.

It is also expected to promote tourism potential and traditional cultures of ethnic minorities along the Vietnam-Laos border to domestic and international friends, contributing to preserving ethnic identities.

The festival is to strengthen the solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between Vietnam and Laos, and reaffirm Vietnam's consistent policy of maintaining, consolidating and enhancing its special relationship with the neighbour.

The event will include musical performances, shows featuring traditional costumes, cultural products and images of Vietnamese people as well as socio-economic achievements of some localities that have cooperative ties with Lao counterparts.

An exhibition featuring cultural space, traditional crafts, agricultural tools of ethnic groups living on the Vietnam-Laos border areas will also be organised.

The Vietnamese provinces joining the festival include Dien Bien, Quang Tri, Quang Binh, Son La, Thua Thien-Hue, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Nam and Kon Tum and the Lao provinces are Luang Prabang, Huaphanh, Attapeu, Sekong, Xiengkhuang, Borikhamxay, Khammouan, Savannakhet, Saravane and Phongsaly.

Illustrative image. Photo: VNA

In this month, a story-telling competition on Vietnam-Laos friendship was launched, as part of a special communications campaign for the 60th founding anniversary of the nations’ diplomatic relations (September 5, 1962-2022).

Co-organised by the Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Vietnam Friendship Associations, the Lao Embassy in Vietnam, and Vietnam Times magazine, the contest receives entries in the forms of writing or video clips until August 31.

All Vietnamese citizens with relations to Lao people are eligible to participate.

Entries are to tell stories about the contestants’ keepsakes, which are required to be owned for at least five years.

In a similar event, the commission for communications and training of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) Central Committee has recently launched a writing contest on the relations between Laos and Vietnam.

A person can create many works of different genres, including long stories (modern novels), short stories, memoirs and poems.

The organising board will receive entries until the end of August 16. The winners will be announced on September 1.

The visit by National Assembly (NA) Chairman Vuong Dinh Hue to Laos from May 15-17 was a success, helping further foster the cooperative relations and mutual support between the two parliaments, and bolster the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive partnership between the two countries, said Chairman of the NA Committee for External Relations Vu Hai Ha.

This was the first official visit to Laos by a senior leader of Vietnam in the Laos - Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year 2022, and also the first by Hue as Chairman of the Vietnamese NA.

Hue was also the first foreign parliamentary leader to visit Laos since the country’s 11th National Party Congress and the 9th-tenure NA’s first session.

Vietnam and Laos are neighbours with a traditional and close-knit friendship founded by Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh, and Lao Presidents Kaysone Phomvihane and Souphanouvong, and nurtured by generations of both countries' leaders and people.

Vietnam is the third largest investor in Laos. The Lao side held that despite a rise of 33% year on year in two-way trade in 2021 to USD 1.2 billion, the figure has yet to meet the potential of cooperation between the two countries and accounted for a too small rate in the trade revenue of each country.

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