China's top legislator calls for deepened exchanges with Lao National Assembly

China's top legislator Zhao Leji held talks with President of the Lao National Assembly Saysomphone Phomvihane in Beijing on Monday, calling for deepened exchanges between the two legislative bodies.

At the talks, Zhao, chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, said that the Chinese side stands ready to closely cooperate with the Lao side to turn the important consensus reached by the top leaders of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (LPRP) and of the two countries into tangible results of cooperation, so as to better benefit the peoples of the two countries.

Zhao said China is willing to fully include the bilateral friendship featuring comradeship and brotherhood into the building of the China-Laos community with a shared future, and firmly support Laos in consolidating the LPRP leadership and socialist system, advancing stable development and improving the people's livelihood, and playing a more important role in international and regional affairs.

Zhao said the two sides need to adhere to high-level guidance, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and set a fine example for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, while building on traditional friendship and expanding exchanges in fields including culture, education and media.

Zhao expressed China's firm support for Laos in taking on the rotating chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (cms) next year.

Zhao said the NPC is ready to work with the Lao National Assembly to deepen friendly exchanges at all levels, carry out in-depth exchanges on topics including national governance, development planning and rule of law, strengthen exchanges between local legislative bodies, and provide legal guarantee for China-Laos cooperation in various fields.

Zhao called for close bilateral coordination on multilateral parliamentary occasions, and joint efforts to uphold the basic norms governing international relations and protect the common interests of developing countries.

Zhao also introduced China's development in whole-process people's democracy.

Also speaking at the talks, Saysomphone recognized the steady growth of the traditional friendship between Laos and China, noting that the two countries boast deepening political mutual trust and fruitful results of practical cooperation. He said the Laos-China Railway has played an important role in boosting Laos' economic development.

Saysomphone said the Lao National Assembly is willing to strengthen cooperation with the NPC in efforts to deepen construction of the Laos-China community with a shared future.

After the talks, Zhao and Saysomphone signed an agreement on cooperation between the NPC and the Lao National Assembly.