On the afternoon of 24 July, Hai Phong City People’s Committee Vice Chairman Hoang Minh Cuong chaired a working session with a delegation of department-level and equivalent officials from the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, led by Mayfong Maxay, Party Committee member and Rector of the University of Health Sciences under the Lao Ministry of Health.
The delegation included Latana Sihalaj, Deputy Ambassador of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to Vietnam, representatives of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics and the Party Central Committee’s Organisation Commission. City leaders of relevant departments, sectors and units also attended.
Speaking at the reception, Vice Chairman Hoang Minh Cuong expressed his pleasure at welcoming the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party delegation to Hai Phong. He affirmed that the traditional, loyal and pure relationship between the Vietnamese and Lao peoples is an invaluable asset, built and nurtured by generations of leaders and people of both countries under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party.
Vice Chairman Hoang Minh Cuong said Hai Phong has consistently promoted friendly cooperation with Lao localities, especially Vientiane and Oudomxay provinces, through delegation exchanges, people-to-people friendship activities and education and training cooperation. The city has received and trained hundreds of Lao students at universities, contributing to high-quality human resources for the neighbouring country and strengthening bilateral cooperation.
Informing the delegation, the Vice Chairman said that from 1 July 2025 the former Hai Phong City and Hai Duong Province officially merged under the name Hai Phong City. After the merger, the city has 114 commune-level administrative units, an area of nearly 3,200 square kilometres, a population of nearly 4.7 million and an aggregate GRDP ranking third nationwide, after Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. The merger creates a major opportunity to form a powerful new growth pole in the Red River Delta by combining industrial and agricultural potential with an international seaport system.
Vice Chairman Hoang Minh Cuong valued the significance of the delegation’s visit and working session and hoped that the two sides would propose practical and effective ideas and cooperation initiatives to further deepen the special friendship between the people of Hai Phong and Lao localities.
At the session, delegates heard city departments report and introduce the city’s socio-economic, industrial, logistics, seaport and tourism development potential. The two sides exchanged experience in implementing the two-tier local-government model and discussed socio-economic development, national defence and security, and expanded external cooperation in the coming period.
Speaking at the session, Mayfong Maxay sincerely thanked Hai Phong for its respectful, warm and thoughtful welcome. He praised the city’s comprehensive achievements and affirmed that they provide valuable experience for Laos to study, learn from and apply in its national development.
He also expressed hope that the special friendship between Vietnam and Laos, and between Hai Phong and Lao localities, would continue to strengthen and develop more broadly, effectively and sustainably./.
Source: Hai Phong City Electronic Information Portal