Dmitry Medvedev held talks with Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith.

Dmitry Medvedev’s conversation with Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith

News conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith following Russia-Laos talks

Dmitry Medvedev’s conversation with Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith

Excerpts from the transcript:

Russian-Lao talks

26 September 2017

Conversation with Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith

26 September 2017

Russian-Lao talks

Dmitry Medvedev: Your official visit to Russia provides us with an opportunity to exchange views on the development of bilateral relations and ways to strengthen them, as well as new areas of cooperation. Overall, let us discuss everything related to the traditionally friendly relations between our countries.

Thongloun Sisoulith: The Russian Federation and Laos are strategic partners. During today’s visit we plan to discuss a broad range of bilateral relations.

Today’s meeting is instrumental in terms of further promoting bilateral ties between our countries.

Documents signed following the talks:

Signing joint documents

– Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Lao People’s Democratic Republic on Transfer of Persons Sentenced to Imprisonment
Signed by Alexander Konovalov, Russian Minister of Justice, and Kongthong Phongvichit, Lao Deputy Minister of Public Security;

– Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic on Air Traffic
Signed by Maxim Sokolov, Russian Minister of Transport, and Bounchanh Singthavong, Lao Minister of Public Works and Transport;

– Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian Ministry of Energy and the Lao Ministry of Energy and Mines on Cooperation in Energy
Signed by Alexander Novak, Russian Minister of Energy, and Khammani Inthilat, Lao Minister of Energy and Mines;

– Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring), the Autonomous Non-Profit Organisation International Training and Methodology Centre for Financial Monitoring (ITMCFM) and the Anti-Money Laundering Intelligence Unit (AMLIU) of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in Training Personnel for the National Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing System
Signed by Yuri Chikhanchin, Director of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, and Vathana Dalaloy, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Lao PDR;

– Roadmap on Russian-Lao Cooperation in the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy
Signed by Nikolai Spassky, Deputy Director General of the Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation, and Sinava Souphanouvong, Lao Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines;

– Contract on Military and Technical Cooperation
Signed by Alexander Mikheyev, Director General of Rosoboronexport, and Suvon Luongbunmi, Chief of the General Staff and Deputy Defence Minister of Laos;

– Agreement between A-RKSENA Limited Liability Company and Electricity du Laos Generation Public Company (EDL-Gen), Shareholders of the Xekong 5 Hydropower Project
Signed by Igor Dakhin, Investment Director of A-RKSENA, and Rattana Prathoumvan, Managing Director of EDL-Gen.

Excerpts from the transcript:

News conference by Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister of Laos Thongloun Sisoulith following Russia-Laos talks

Dmitry Medvedev: The talks were very useful, constructive and covered all aspects of our current cooperation, including trade, energy, science, education, tourism, and other areas. Several documents were signed to strengthen the legal framework of our bilateral cooperation.

Laos is an important partner to Russia in Southeast Asia. Our relations are based on long-term traditions of friendship, trust and support. We are both interested in developing relations at the political level, as well as in the trade and economic sphere.

Our bilateral trade remains rather modest. Therefore, we discussed possible measures to expand our trade links, increase trade, and ensure more active cooperation between our business communities. We also talked about ways to extend the list of supplied goods and launch those mutually beneficial projects that already exist but have been subject to negotiations for too long.

There are truly big projects such as the very promising Sekong 5 hydropower station. We expect all the agreements regarding its construction to be finished soon so that we could start on design work. There are other important areas of cooperation, including nuclear energy, which is the subject of one of the agreements signed today.

Education is another important area. Thousands of Lao students and professionals have studied in Russian and Soviet universities. Many of them now hold government positions.

Year after year, the number of Russian tourists in Laos grows. The visa-free travel agreement between our countries is about to come into effect.

Laos successfully coordinates the dialogue partnership between Russia and ASEAN. We see great potential in this cooperation as ASEAN is one of the major trade and economic associations in the Asia Pacific, with significant experience in trade talks. Russia, both as an individual country and a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, plans to continue working on simplifying trade procedures and launching new projects.

Thongloun Sisoulith: The final outcome of our talks is the signing of a large number of documents today, particularly, seven cooperation agreements. This is a testament to the progress made in our bilateral ties in the spirit of the traditions that characterise our relations. We are committed to the comprehensive development of these relations.

We would be very glad to see you, Mr Medvedev, on an official visit to Laos at any time convenient to you.