During his reception on Wednesday for a group of Da Nang leaders, the Governor of Champasak Province in Laos, Mr Bounthong Divixay, briefed his guests on his locality’s remarkable socio-economic developments over recent years.

Secretary Anh (left) giving 440 million VND from the city budget to the province to implement some local social welfare activities

He said, “Champasak has, to date, attracted 271 FDI projects, including one from Da Nang.  Currently, all the province’s districts have been lifted out of basic poverty.  I hope that Da Nang and Champasak Province will together share their valuable experiences in tourism development and urban infrastructure planning in the years ahead.”

In reply, Da Nang Party Committee Secretary Nguyen Xuan Anh affirmed that his city is always willing to share its experiences with the southern and central localities of Laos, including Champasak Province, in promoting the development of urban infrastructure, tourism, trade, services, education and training.  He took the opportunity to ask the provincial authorities to re-open the Pakse-Da Nang direct flights as soon as possible in order to deepen the bilateral cooperative relationship with the southern and central localities of Laos.

Also at the meeting, the Da Nang and Champasak leaders discussed the development of a cooperation programme between Da Nang and Champasak over the 2018 - 2022 period.

Under the agreement, Da Nang will spend 21.74 billion VND on training Laotian students and government officials, giving computers to Lao universities, and providing more assistance to local healthcare services and social welfare activities.

The signing ceremony between Da Nang and Champasak Province

On the same day, as part of their ongoing working trip to Champasak Province, the Da Nang leaders visited the Vietnamese Consulate General in the province’s Pakse Town. 

Secretary Anh highly applauded the Consulate staff for their great efforts in fufilling their diplomatic tasks, as well as in cooperating with the Da Nang Project Management and Investment Cooperation Centre in Laos to effectively implement numerous bilateral cooperation programmes there.

Currently, 4,000 Vietnamese expats are living and working in Champasak Province.  They mainly earn a living through trade and service activities.  In addition, 40 Vietnamese businesses are operating effectively in the province.

During his meeting on the same day with the Director of the Champasak University, Mr Bunmy Phongsavanh, Secretary Anh congratulated the university on its remarkable educational achievements over recent years.  He also shared his city’s experience in training high-quality human resources for the city.  He affirmed that Da Nang would actively exchange its lecturers with Champasak University, and train them in the Vietnamese language.

To mark the visit, the city’s representatives donated 5 laptops to the university, and 2 computers, a projector and some Vietnamese language teaching books to the Vietnamese Language Centre in Champasak Province.