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Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with his Laos counterpart, Sonexay Siphandone, in Vientiane on Friday.
The two Prime Ministers held productive talks on further strengthening India-Laos civilizational and contemporary ties. They discussed various areas of bilateral cooperation such as development partnership, capacity building, disaster management, renewable energy, heritage restoration, economic ties, defence collaboration, and people-to-people ties, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. "Prime Minister Siphandone thanked Prime Minister for India's flood relief assistance provided to Lao PDR in the aftermath of Typhoon Yagi. The two leaders noted that the ongoing restoration and conservation of Vat Phou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, under Indian assistance by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) imparts a special dimension to bilateral ties," the MEA said. PM Modi arrived in Laos on Thursday at the invitation of PM Siphandone and participated in the the 21st ASEAN-India and 19th East Asia Summits. PM Modi congratulated Lao PM on successfully hosting the summits. " The two Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction at the close cooperation between the countries in regional and multilateral fora. PM Siphandone reaffirmed India's role on the international stage. India has strongly supported Lao PDR's Chairmanship of ASEAN for 2024," the MEA said in its statement. Following the talks, MoUs/ Agreement in the fields of defence, broadcasting, Customs cooperation, and three Quick Impact Projects (QIPs) under the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation were exchanged in the presence of the two leaders. The QIPs relate to preservation of heritage of Lao Ramayan, restoration of Wat Pakea Buddhist temple with murals related to Ramayan, and support to shadow puppetry theatre on Ramayan in Champasak province. All three QIPs have a GoI grant assistance of about USD 50000 each. India will also provide a grant assistance of about USD 1 million to improve nutrition security in Lao PDR. This assistance through the India UN Development Partnership Fund, will be the Fund's first such project in South-East Asia, the MEA added. (ANI)
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