Speaking at the ceremony, General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong stressed that the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries on September 5, 1962, marked a milestone in the relationship between the two countries. 40 years ago, on July 18, 1977, the two countries signed the Vietnam-Laos Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, which became an important political and legal basis for the construction and defence of either country.
Trong said the late President Ho Chi Minh's verse that goes, "The love between Vietnam and Laos is deeper than the Hong Ha and Cuu Long Rivers" and Laos' late President Kaysone Phomvihane's belief that "Our relationship is long lasting even more than mountains and rivers" is always in the hearts and minds of all Vietnamese people.
