Continuously fostering the special solidarity and friendship between Vietnam - Laos and Vietnam - Cambodia in the fields of law and justice.

At the invitation of Comrade Thongloun Sisoulith, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, President of the Lao PDR, Comrade To Lam, President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, and a high-ranking delegation of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam paid a State visit to Laos from July 11-12, 2024. The Ministry of Justice was honored to have a representative (Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc) join the President's delegation.
Signing of the 2024 Cooperation Program with the Lao Ministry of Justice
On the morning of July 11, 2024, right after the official welcoming ceremony and talks, in the presence of the two heads of state, the ceremony to hand over cooperation documents signed within the framework of the visit took place, including the 2024 Cooperation Program between the Ministry of Justice of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Ministry of Justice of the Lao PDR, conducted by Deputy Minister of Justice of Vietnam Nguyen Khanh Ngoc and Deputy Minister of Justice of Laos Ketsana Phommachan. The highlight of the Cooperation Program is that the two Ministries of Justice commit to organizing the 6th Judicial Conference of Border Provinces in Laos in the fourth quarter of 2024 to assess the implementation of the Conclusion of the 5th Judicial Conference of Border Provinces held in Vietnam (August 2022) in areas such as nationality, civil status, civil judgment enforcement, dissemination of legal education, legal aid, training of legal human resources, judicial assistance in civil matters... In addition, the two Ministries of Justice commit to organizing scientific seminars and talks on the application of information technology in administrative reform and the provision of public services, international justice; promoting cooperation in legal training and fostering; encouraging judicial cooperation between localities of the two countries and coordinating and supporting each other in multilateral forums and mechanisms on law and justice. The signing of the 2024 Cooperation Program continues to demonstrate the determination of the two Ministries of Justice in effectively and substantially implementing the Cooperation Agreement between the Ministries of Justice of the two countries for the period 2021-2025, thereby resolving outstanding issues between the two Parties in the fields of law and justice, contributing to promoting socio-economic development and ensuring national defense and security in each country.
Hello Lao Minister of Justice Phayvy SIBOUALYPHA
On the same afternoon, comrade Phayvy SIBOUALYPHA, member of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, Minister of Justice of the Lao PDR, took time to warmly receive Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc. Congratulating comrade Le Thanh Long, the new Minister of Justice approved by the National Assembly and the President to hold the position of Deputy Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the Lao Minister of Justice thanked the valuable and sincere support that the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam has given to the Lao Ministry of Justice over the past time, especially the completion of the ODA Project to support the Lao National Judicial Academy and support for Laos to build a number of important legal documents, most recently the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement. Regarding nationality, the Lao Minister of Justice was pleased to announce that based on the Conclusion of the 5th Judicial Conference of Border Provinces held in Vietnam in August 2022, Laos has basically completed the process of naturalization of Lao citizens in cases of Vietnamese people who migrated freely and are residing in Laos and whose names are on the List approved by the Heads of the Border Delegations of the two countries. The few remaining cases are due to the fact that the parties involved have passed away, their addresses cannot be found, they have duplicate names or have lost their civil capacity. In the coming time, the Lao Minister of Justice requested the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice to (i) support the implementation of the new Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement, focusing on operating the vertical civil judgment enforcement system (formerly the Civil Judgment Enforcement Department under the Department of Justice). Currently, you have only been able to operate this new model in 5 provinces; (ii) focus on successfully organizing the Judicial Conference of the provinces sharing the border between the two countries in the fourth quarter of this year and look forward to welcoming Comrade Le Thanh Long, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice of Vietnam, to visit Laos and attend this Conference. Regarding the participants of the Conference, in addition to the provinces sharing the border and the provinces having sister-state relations, the Minister also suggested that other interested provinces, such as those in the process of establishing sister-state relations, could be invited; (iii) consider supporting the Lao Ministry of Justice in performing the tasks assigned by the Steering Committee for the Amendment of the Lao Constitution 2015; (iv) continue to support the training of legal human resources, first of all, continue to support the training and development of the teaching staff of the Lao National Judicial Academy (the Academy has just been assigned the task of training masters in law specializing in civil and economic fields, but the qualifications of Lao lecturers have not yet met the requirements); (v) Finally, consider continuing to support an ODA project for the Lao Ministry of Justice (specific priority needs will be sent to the Vietnamese side as soon as possible).
Agreeing with the opinions of the Lao Minister of Justice, Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc affirmed the determination of the leaders of the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice to always be ready to share experiences and provide technical support to the Lao Ministry of Justice within their capacity. The Deputy Minister also informed that the Vietnamese Government has just established a Working Group to review the system of legal documents headed by the Prime Minister to remove difficulties for production and business and is ready to share this experience for Laos to refer to. In addition, the Deputy Minister also suggested that the Lao Ministry of Justice should pay more attention to the field of international law and international cooperation to properly handle legal issues arising in the integration process. Regarding the new ODA project, the Deputy Minister suggested that the Lao side soon send an official proposal, on the basis of which the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice will carefully study it to report to the competent authority for consideration.
Talks with Deputy Minister of Justice
At the end of the meeting with the Lao Minister of Justice, Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc and Deputy Minister of Justice of Laos Ketsana Phommachan held talks. The two sides informed each other of the results of judicial work in the first 6 months of the year and the tasks and solutions for the last 6 months of the year; and discussed in more depth solutions to implement the suggestions of Minister Phayvy SIBOUALYPHA. Comrade Nguyen Khanh Ngoc also raised a number of issues such as (i) Laos's delay in issuing certificates of single status, leading to a backlog of more than 800 marriage records between citizens of the two countries in the border area; (ii) Laos's delay in implementing judicial entrustment requests, affecting the adjudication work of the Vietnamese Court; (iii) According to the Cooperation Agreement between the two Governments in 2024, the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice will be funded to organize a one-month training course for 15 Lao judicial officers on civil enforcement and other judicial work. The Lao side is requested to promptly submit specific proposals to organize the course on schedule; (iii) the two Ministries of Justice will coordinate more closely in multilateral cooperation mechanisms such as the ASEAN Justice Ministers' Meeting; the ASEAN-Japan Justice Ministers' Meeting and the G7 to best ensure national interests.
Agreeing with the opinions of Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc, Deputy Minister Ketsana Phommachan hopes to continue receiving experience sharing, timely support and coordination from the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice in the near future to successfully organize the 6th Judicial Conference of Bordering Provinces.
It can be said that the above bilateral activities of Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc have significantly contributed to the overall success of the State visit to Laos by President To Lam, further promoting the special solidarity and cooperation between Vietnam and Laos in the fields of law and justice to reap many practical and effective results with the motto "helping you is helping yourself" as advised by President Ho Chi Minh.
2. Continue to foster the special cooperation between Vietnam and Cambodia in the field of law and justice
After successfully concluding his State visit to the Lao PDR, President To Lam and a high-ranking delegation of the Party and State of Vietnam continued their State visit to Cambodia from July 12-13, 2024. During the visit, Mr. Nguyen Khanh Ngoc, Deputy Minister of Justice, held talks with Chin Malin, Secretary of State of the Cambodian Ministry of Justice, to review the results and propose a number of solutions to further promote cooperation between the two countries in the fields of law and justice.
At the meeting, Cambodian Minister of Justice Chin Malin conveyed congratulations from Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Koeut Rith to Minister of Justice Le Thanh Long, who was recently approved and appointed to the position of Deputy Prime Minister. The Minister of State also said that the Cambodian Ministry of Justice is currently focusing on implementing new tasks on legal and judicial work according to the 10-year strategy of the new Government. Regarding cooperation between the two Ministries, the Minister of State assessed that the two sides have implemented many effective cooperation activities since the organization of the 2nd Judicial Conference of the provinces sharing the border of the two countries in Siem Reap at the end of 2019. However, some planned activities have been delayed due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and recently partly because Cambodia has a new Government and the Cambodian Ministry of Justice is busy with many newly assigned tasks. However, the Cambodian Ministry of Justice always identifies cooperation with the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice as a top priority. In order to make cooperation activities more effective and practical, State Secretary Chin Malin proposed that the two sides should review the Cooperation Agreement (MOU) signed between the two Ministries of Justice in 2009 to propose amendments and supplements to suit the new situation as well as the new mission of each country's Ministry of Justice. Regarding the plan to visit Vietnam and attend the 3rd Judicial Conference of Border Provinces by the Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice (scheduled to be held this year), State Secretary Chin Malin said that the Cambodian side is looking forward to this event and hopes that the Vietnamese side will send detailed information to report to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Koeut Rith for an early decision.
Agreeing with the opinions of State Secretary Chin Malin, Deputy Minister Nguyen Khanh Ngoc agreed that the two Ministries of Justice should review the MOU signed in 2009 to consider signing a new MOU as well as a cooperation plan for the 2025-2026 period. From now until the signing of the new MOU (striving to sign it by the end of this year on the occasion of the 3rd Judicial Conference of the provinces sharing the two countries' borders in Vietnam), the two Ministries need to carry out the committed cooperation activities, focusing on: (i) enhancing the exchange of experiences in digital transformation, applying artificial intelligence to legal and judicial work; (ii) requesting the Cambodian side to speed up the implementation of the Vietnamese side's requests for judicial assistance, including considering the method of processing records in the electronic environment; (iii) Strengthening cooperation in law training and judicial training, specifically, the Cambodian side is interested in sending students to study law at Hanoi Law University as well as implementing more substantially the Cooperation Agreement between the Judicial Academy under the Ministry of Justice of Vietnam and the Royal Judicial Academy of Cambodia (2017); (iv) The two Ministries of Justice continue to closely coordinate with each other in multilateral legal forums such as the ASEAN Justice Ministers' Meeting mechanism and the ASEAN-Japan and G7 Justice Ministers' Meeting mechanism.
The talks took place in a friendly atmosphere of mutual understanding with practical and specific exchanges, thereby contributing to further strengthening the special cooperative relationship between the two countries' Ministries of Justice, actively contributing to fostering good neighborly relations, traditional friendship, comprehensive cooperation, and long-term sustainability between Vietnam and Cambodia.