President To Lam to pay State visits to Laos, Cambodia

The visits will be made at the invitations of General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and President of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith, and Cambodian King Preah Bat Samdech Preah Boromneath Norodom Sihamoni.

On September 5, 1962, Viet Nam and Laos officially established diplomatic relations. The establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic ushered in a new stage of the bilateral ties, a stage of special relations of friendship, solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties and States.

In 2023, the two-way trade reached about US$1.6 billion, a slight decrease of 2.1 percent year on year, but the import value from Laos surged by 4.2 per cent.

Last year, Viet Nam's investment capital in Laos reached US$116.6 million, an increase of 65.3 per cent compared to 2022.

Laos now has 18 investment projects in Viet Nam with a total registered capital of over US$110 million.

Viet Nam and Cambodia established diplomatic ties 57 years ago, on June 24, 1967. The achievements of the bilateral relationship over the past more than five decades were reflected in the victory of the national liberation struggle in each country and also in the development of comprehensive cooperative relationships.

Two-way trade has seen significant progress, with growth rate averaging 20 per cent from 2015 to 2022, surpassing US$10 billion in 2022.

Viet Nam's exports to Cambodia during the first half of 2024 were estimated at US$2.5 billion, mainly consisting of iron and steel, clothing and petrol and oil.

Viet Nam remains the leading ASEAN investor in Cambodia, with 205 active projects worth US$2.95 billion./.