Head of the Western Border Department under the Foreign Ministry’s National Border Commission Thai Xuan Dung has stressed the need for continued coordination between Vietnamese and Lao border localities to safeguard and upgrade markers along the shared border line.

Speaking at a meeting in the central province of Nghe An on March 30, to review the master plan of increasing and upgrading border markers between the two countries from 2008-2016, Dung urged border stations in the locality to work closely with their Laos counterparts on campaigns to engage local people in protecting border markers.

Participants to the meeting agreed on the importance of increasing and upgrading border markers along the Vietnam-Laos boundary, saying that it contributes to strengthening the traditional friendship and special solidarity between the two countries.

Nghe An has 419 km of border line shared with the Lao provinces of Houaphan, Xieng Khouang and Bolikhamxay.

Under a plan set by the National Steering Committee for Vietnam-Laos Border Marker Planting, 116 markers must be built or upgraded in Nghe An, and the work is now finished.

Vietnam and Laos share a border of over 2,337 km that runs across 10 Vietnamese and 10 Lao provinces.

The two nations signed a number of important legal documents on border and territory, including a treaty on delineation of national boundaries in July 1977, which serves as a political and legal foundation for the settlement of border-related issues.

VNA