Provincial leaders from Champassak and Kon Tum province in Vietnam have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on co-operation from 2023-2027 in the fields of politics, diplomacy, econom-ics, investment and tourism, to fulfil their development objectives.

The Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Governor of Champassak province, Mr Vilayvong Bouddakham, led a delegation from the province on a working visit to Kon Tum province in Vietnam.
He met for talks with the Chairman of the Kon Tum People’s Commit-tee, Mr Le Ngoc Tuan, and Deputy Provincial Party Secretary, which were also attended by other Party representatives, according to the Paxason newspaper.
Under the MOU, the two provinces will continue to create favorable conditions for their departments, agencies and localities to build friendly and cooperative relations.
They also agreed to enhance tourism linkages and closely coordinate with other localities in Laos and Vietnam to actively implement the tourism development plan for the Cambodia, Laos,Vietnam development triangle area from 2021-2025.
In addition, Kon Tum province will continue to provide scholarships for Champassak officials.
Speaking at the MOU signing ceremony, Mr Vilayvong said “Champassak agreed with the cooperative orientations of the two provinces in the coming time, especially in the fields of agriculture, tourism, economics and trade.”
A report in the VietnamPlus newspaper stated that to further strength-en their relationship, the Chairman of the Kon Tum People’s Commit-tee suggested that the two provinces implement key cooperation activities, such as reciprocal visits, meetings and working sessions be-tween senior leaders, agencies, units and localities, and coordinate to effectively implement trade and investment agreements between Laos and Vietnam.
“The two localities should create more favourable conditions and encourage investors, businesses and individuals in each province to explore investment opportunities and strengthen cooperative activities in the culture, sports and tourism sectors,” Mr Le Ngoc Tuan said.
In the past, Champassak and Kon Tum provinces have organised reciprocal visits by highranking delegations for discussions and to sign memorandums of understanding on regular cooperation.
Earlier this year, a delegation from Kon Tum province attended a forum on integration and connection to promote cooperation, investment and tourism between Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, when they visited Laos and gave 400 million dong for distribution to poor families in Champassak province.
Kon Tum province also donated 1 billion 620 million dong for Champassak province to create a website and fund annual scholarships for 15 people from the province to study Vietnamese and other subjects at the Da Nang University campus in Kon Tum province.
Source: Vientiane Times