On November 18, Yang Wanming, President of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), met with Anouphap Tounalom, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of the People's Council of Vientiane, Laos, who came to China to attend the China International Friendship Cities Conference 2024 in Kunming, Yunnan Province.
Yang Wanming welcomed Anouphap Tounalom and his delegation to the China International Friendship Cities Conference 2024 and congratulated Vientiane for winning the Friendship City Award for Outstanding Partnership with China. In his remarks, Yang noted that in October 2024, General Secretary and President Xi Jinping met with Thongloun Sisoulith, General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and President of Laos. The two sides reached important consensus on deepening the China-Laos comprehensive strategic cooperation and making concrete and sound progress in building a China-Laos community with a shared future. Yang emphasized that the key to implementing the consensus reached by the leaders of both parties and countries lies in fostering practical cooperation across various sectors, consistently delivering visible and tangible benefits to the peoples of both nations. He referenced the Eighth Greater Mekong Subregion Summit, held recently in Kunming, where critical agreements were reached on openness and cooperation, innovation, and infrastructure development. The subregional economic integration fostered by such initiatives has provided significant momentum for the economic and social development of both China and Laos. Yang expressed his readiness to collaborate with all sectors in Laos to actively implement the consensus reached by the top leaders of both nations. He reaffirmed the CPAFFC's role as the leading organization of the China-ASEAN Year of People-to-People Exchanges and highlighted the importance of platforms such as the RCEP Local Governments and Friendship Cities Cooperation (Huangshan) Forum, and the Forum on Lancang-Mekong Local Government Cooperation. These initiatives aim to strengthen subregional economic integration and foster bilateral cooperation across diverse fields through people-to-people friendship and subnational cooperation. Yang emphasized the importance of translating these efforts into concrete actions that contribute to the realization of a China-Laos community with a shared future.
In his response, Anouphap Tounalom extended his gratitude to the Chinese side for the generous invitation and thoughtful arrangements. He acknowledged that Laos-China relations is currently at its best in history, with steady progress in the depth and breadth of bilateral cooperation. He noted the fruitful outcomes of collaboration in fields such as agriculture, infrastructure, culture, and tourism, which have significantly benefited both nations. Looking to the future, Anouphap highlighted the even prospects for cooperation between the two countries. He emphasized that subnational cooperation serves as a driving force for state-to-state relations and reiterated Laos' commitment to working closely with China to further advance the sustainable and continuous development of bilateral relations.
Yuan Mindao, Vice President of the CPAFFC; Zhu Dan, Director-General of the Department of East Asian Affairs of the CPAFFC; and Phoukham Saisomphou, Standing Member of Vientiane Municipal Party Committee and Director of the Municipal People's Government Office, attended the meeting.
