Vietnamese, Lao PMs hail completion of border marker project

Prime Ministers of Vietnam and Laos on Tuesday hailed the completion of the border marker project, saying it is of great significance in traditional friendship between the two countries. The appreciation was made at the grand ceremony to celebrate the completion of border mark planting held at border gate separating the Vietnamese town of Thanh Thuy in central Nghe An province and the Lao town of Nam On in Bolykhamsay province. This is the joint achievement of the two countries in building a peace, stable and cooperative borderline, contributing to facilitating economic and trade exchange, said Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. Lao Prime Minister Thoongsing Thammavong, for his part, said that the border mark planting project plays an important role in building mutual trust and understanding, creating favorable conditions for travel, tourism, trade and investment from the central to localities, boosting poverty reduction in border areas. The two PMs proposed to continue working closely together to finalize legal documents to fully complete the project in 2014. Vietnam and Laos have 2,067 km common borderline shared by 20 provinces, ten on each side. In 1977, the two countries signed a border demarcation treaty for the 1978-1987 period under which they were committed to finalizing the planting of 214 land border markers in 119 places. The result was recognized in the protocol on border demarcation and border marker planting signed by the two neighbors in October 1987. In 2003, both sides completed a project to draw a 1:50,000 scale map of the Vietnam-Laos borderline. In January 2008, governments of Vietnam and Laos agreed to implement the joint project on upgrading and embellishing border markers. According to head of the Lao Border Committee Bun Kot Sang Som Sak, after five years of working, the two sides finished positioning of 835 border markers in 793 locations and 20 benchmark pillars in a borderline of 2,067 km, sharing by 20 provinces, ten in each side. Vietnam shares the land borderlines with China, Laos and Cambodia. The country completed works of land border demarcation with China in 2008, and with Cambodia in 2012.