President Xi Jinping and Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachith place flowers during a ceremony on Tuesday marking the start of work on a hospital expansion in Vientiane, Laos, involving money and medical equipment from China. (MA ZHANCHENG / XINHUA)
President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday that his visit to Laos was a success and he is "fully confident" of the future of China-Laos ties. [Special coverage]
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remark when Laotian President Bounnhang Vorachith came to his hotel to bid farewell.
Xi said that during the visit he and Bounnhang, also general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, had agreed to jointly build a community of a shared future with strategic importance for the two countries and planned for cooperation to strengthen synergy of strategies and to achieve mutual benefit.
He said that the two countries should fully implement the outcomes achieved in the visit and promote better development of the bilateral comprehensive strategic co¬operative partnership.
Bounnhang said Xi's successful visit to Laos has lifted Laos-China ties to a new level and that the Lao People's Revolutionary Party as well as Laos are "full of expectation" for the future development of the ties.
After the meeting, the two leaders witnessed the signing of a cooperation deal between the two foreign ministries.
Xi wrapped up his two-day visit to Laos and returned to Beijing on Tuesday night.
Earlier in the day, Xi also met with Laotian Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. Xi said China and Laos should push forward the construction of the China-Laos economic corridor and ensure smooth progress in the construction of the China-Laos railway.
Cooperation between China and Laos is highly complementary, Xi said, adding that the two countries should expand and deepen cooperation in energy resources, electric power and finance and strengthen cooperation in areas concerning people's livelihood, including education, healthcare and poverty alleviation.
The two countries are friendly neighbors and the two peoples cherish a traditional friendship that has a long history, Xi said, adding that China will continue sticking with friendly policies toward Laos.
He emphasized the two countries should continue maintaining high-level contacts, deepen exchanges of the experience of governing the parties and the countries, strengthen cooperation in defense, law enforcement and security, and enhance friendship between the two peoples.
Also, both sides should keep enriching and developing their comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership featuring a high level of mutual trust, mutual support and mutual benefit, Xi emphasized.
Thongloun said the Laotian people had long been looking forward to Xi's visit and that he believed the visit will promote the two countries' comprehensive strategic co¬op¬erative partnership.
In a meeting in Vientian on Tuesday with Pany Yathotu, president of the Laotian National Assembly, Xi said the exchanges and cooperation between the National People's Congress of China and the National Assembly of the Lao People's Democratic Republic is an important part of the China-Laos comprehensive strategic cooperation.
He encouraged the two countries' legislatures to keep up the tradition of high-level exchanges.
Vientiane is the final leg of Xi's first overseas trip after the 19th CPC National Congress.
The trip also took him to Da Nang, Vietnam, to attend the 25th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Economic Leaders' Meeting, and to Hanoi for a state visit.
