BEIJING: President Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos is ready to build Cambodia-Laos relations with the new administration led by Prime Minister Hun Manet.

The two ASEAN leaders met on October 19 while attending China’s Third Belt and Road Forum and discussed building relations through tourism and disaster relief efforts. President Thongloun Sisoulith was pleased to meet the Cambodian Prime Minister and congratulated him on his new position. The Prime Minister was grateful for the opportunity to meet his Laotian counterpart and praised the progress of cooperation in all fields between the two countries.

He expressed his support for the continued implementation of the “Joint Trilateral Exercise on Disaster Relief Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam” as organized in September 2022 and mentioned a number of matters related to promoting tourism through the "Three Countries One Destination" initiative and connecting the capital cities with direct flights.

The leaders praised the achievements of their "Comprehensive and Long-term Strategic Partnership" established in 2019 and agreed to continue to strengthen and expand cooperation in a number of areas, including national defense, education, energy, and trilateral tourism cooperation.

The President of Laos invited Prime Minister Hun Manet to pay an official visit to Laos in the near future, which was graciously accepted.