Laos PM here for 2-day state visit

MANILA, Philippines – Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong is arriving Thursday for a two-day state visit to the Philippines.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday that Thongsing is visiting the country on the invitation of President Benigno Aquino III.

This is Thongsing’s first visit to the Philippines as prime minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (or Laos), a statement from the DFA said.

President Aquino and Thongsing “will discuss bilateral cooperation and partnerships in promoting people-to-people and institutional exchanges,” the department said.

“They will also exchange views on regional issues involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the (Asia-Europe Meeting),” the department said. It added that Manila and Vientiane “have been enjoying 57 years of bilateral relations.”

Thongsing will visit the International Rice Research Institute, the Asian Institute of Management and the Asian Development Bank, the department said.  Jerry E. Esplanada