Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnamese Minister of National Defence General Ngo Xuan Lich onSeptember 8 held phone talks with his Lao counterpart General Chansamone Chanyalathto review bilateral defence cooperation in the recent past and discuss cooperation directions for the time to come.

Duringtheir talks, the two ministers affirmed that Vietnam and Laos always attach greatimportance to their great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensivecooperation.

Lich affirmed that Vietnam is ready to continue sharingexperience with and supporting Laos to effectively address impacts of theCOVID-19 pandemic, as well as help the Lao People's Army improve its capacity.

Forhis part, Chansamone highlighted the significance of the talks, saying thatthis has contributed to show the trust, activeness and timely sharing of information about thesituation between the two sides in order to reach a common view onresponding to COVID-19.

Hethanked the Vietnamese Ministry of National Defence and units of the Vietnamese army forsupporting the Lao army, especially in providing support and medical supplies tohelp Laos in the fight against COVID-19.

The Lao minister congratulated Vietnam on its successful organisation of military-defencemeetings as the country assumes its role as Chair of ASEAN in 2020.

The two ministers held that defence cooperation is animportant pillar in the bilateral relations, and it has contributed to maintainingdefence-security stability and promoting socio-economic development in eachcountry.

Amiddifficulties caused by the COVI-19 crisis, the two ministries have effectivelydeployed contents of the cooperation plan in 2020, promptly assisted eachother and share experience in preventing the disease, demonstrating theirdetermination, proactiveness, and flexibility to control the pandemic.

In the time to come, the two sides will coordinate to review and promptlydirect agencies of the two ministries to well implement cooperation agreements reachedby senior leaders of the two Parties and States as well as the cooperation plan between the two ministries.

They will also take measures to improve effectiveness of cooperationmechanisms, especially the deputy ministerial-level defence policy exchange, bordermanagement and protection, transnational crime prevention, and combating smugglingand drug trafficking crime, and illegal immigration.

The two sides affirmed mutual support at multilateraldefense cooperation forums within the framework of ASEAN as well as in mechanismsin which ASEAN plays a central role.

Chansamone affirmed that the Lao Defence Ministry will continue tosupport and coordinate closely with Vietnam to successfully take over its role as Chair of ASEAN 2020 and organise the ASEAN Chiefs of Defence Forces,the ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting (ADMM), and ADMM Plus (ADMM )./.