Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Prime Minister of Lao PDR Sonexay Siphandone in Vientiane on Friday and congratulated him on successfully hosting the 21st ASEAN-India and 19th East Asia Summits.
The two PMs held productive talks on further strengthening India-Laos civilisational and contemporary ties. They discussed various areas of bilateral cooperation such as development partnership, capacity building, disaster management, renewable energy, heritage restoration, economic ties, defence collaboration, and people-to-people ties.
PM Siphandone thanked Mr Modi for India’s flood relief assistance provided to Lao PDR in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi. The two leaders noted that the ongoing restoration and conservation of Vat Phou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under Indian assistance by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) imparts a special dimension to bilateral ties.
The two leaders expressed satisfaction at the close cooperation between the countries in regional and multilateral fora. PM Siphandone reaffirmed India’s role on the international stage. India has strongly supported Lao PDR’s Chairmanship of ASEAN for 2024.
Following the talks, MoUs/ Agreements in the fields of defence, broadcasting, Customs cooperation, and three Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation were exchanged in the presence of the two leaders.
The QIPs relate to preservation of heritage of Lao Ramayan, restoration of Wat Pakea Buddhist temple with murals related to Ramayan, and support to shadow puppetry theatre on Ramayan in Champasak province.
All three QIPs have a Government of India grant assistance of about $ 50000 each. India will also provide a grant assistance of about $ one million to improve nutrition security in Lao PDR. This assistance through the India UN Development Partnership Fund, will be the Fund’s first such project in South-East Asia.
PM Modi also met his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra. This was the first meeting between them.