By Anjali Sharma
WASHINGTON – India Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held bilateral talks with Prime Minister of Lao PDR Sonexay Siphandone in Vientiane and congratulated on successfully hosting the 21st ASEAN-India and 19th East Asia Summits.
They held productive talks on strengthening India-Laos civilizational and contemporary ties.
Both leaders 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.
They noted that the ongoing restoration and conservation of Vat Phou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under Indian assistance by the Archaeological Survey of India imparts a special dimension to bilateral ties.
Both leaders expressed satisfaction at the close cooperation between the countries in regional and multilateral fora.
Siphandone reaffirmed India’s role on the international stage. India has strongly supported Lao PDR’s Chairmanship of ASEAN for 2024.
MoUs/ Agreements in the fields of defence, broadcasting, Customs cooperation, and three Quick Impact Projects under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation were exchanged in the presence of the two leaders, according to Ministry of External affairs
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.
Modi also met his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra. This was the first meeting between them.
