Wang Yi Holds Video Meeting with Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith
2021/02/03

On February 3, 2021, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a video meeting with Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith.

Wang Yi said that China and Laos are socialist comrades and brothers. This year is of epoch-making significance for both China and Laos. China will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and embark on a new journey of fully building a modern socialist country. Laos will commemorate the 35th anniversary of its renovation and opening up, and wrap up party and government leadership transition. This year also marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of China-Laos diplomatic ties and the Year of China-Laos Friendship, which will bring new opportunities of pushing forward the bilateral relations. China is willing to work with Laos to focus on the implementation of the important consensus reached by the two General Secretaries, enhance strategic communication, deepen solidarity and cooperation, consolidate the building of a China-Laos community with a shared future, inject new impetus into China-Laos comprehensive strategic partnership and make new contributions to the common cause of China-Laos friendship.

Wang Yi said that as China is building a new development paradigm, it will bring Laos with more development opportunities. Both sides need to accelerate the construction of the China-Laos Economic Corridor, foster new driving forces for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and facilitate the completion of the China-Laos Railway on schedule to make it a flagship project of friendship and cooperation. China is willing to continue to strengthen cooperation with the Lao side in fighting the pandemic, and provide anti-pandemic support including vaccines.

Saleumxay Kommasith expressed his heartfelt thanks for China's invaluable support and selfless assistance for his country's economic and social development, and its battle against the pandemic in particular. The party and government of Laos cherish the traditional friendship between the two countries, and believe that Laos-China friendship is decisive for the future of its socialist cause. Laos takes developing relations with China as a priority and would like to join hands with China to implement the important consensus reached by the top leaders of both parties and countries and the action plan on building a Laos-China community with a shared future, enhance strategic communication and mutual trust, and speed up the construction of the Laos-China Economic Corridor to achieve more fruitful results in Laos-China friendship.

The two sides announced the launch of a series of events in celebration of the Year of China-Laos Friendship.

The two sides agreed to lift China-ASEAN cooperation to a new level on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of China-ASEAN dialogue relations, and reached consensus on relevant matters including putting the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership into effect at an early date, building a China-ASEAN partnership on blue economy and promoting Lancang-Mekong cooperation.