Official Visit of His Excellency Phankham Viphavanh, Prime Minister of the Lao People's Democratic Republic, 27 to 28 September 2022

His Excellency Phankham Viphavanh, Prime Minister of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, is on an Official Visit to Singapore from 27 to 28 September 2022, at the invitation of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Prime Minister Phankham received a ceremonial welcome at the Istana this morning. Prime Minister Phankham called on President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee, who also hosted an Official Lunch. Prime Minister Phankham and his spouse, Mrs Sichanh Viphavanh, had a new orchid hybrid, the Dendrobium Phankham Sichanh Viphavanh, named in their honour.

President Halimah and Prime Minister Phankham affirmed the warm relations between Singapore and Laos, underpinned by multifaceted cooperation in areas including trade and investment, energy, sustainability and people-to-people ties. They agreed that there was much scope to deepen collaboration, including on human resource development as well as promoting business and tourism links. President Halimah expressed Singapore’s continued support for Laos’ development and capacity building.

Prime Minister Lee and Prime Minister Phankham discussed ways to enhance the partnership between Singapore and Laos. They welcomed the import of up to 100MW of renewable hydropower from Laos to Singapore under the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project (LTMS-PIP), which commenced in June 2022. The LTMS-PIP serves as a pathfinder toward realising the broader ASEAN Power Grid vision of multilateral electricity trading between neighbouring countries in the region. This is an important milestone in bilateral relations, and contributes to energy security and a more sustainable future for both our countries, as well as the region.

The two Prime Ministers witnessed the signing and exchange of four Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), namely the MOU on the Establishment of Bilateral Consultations between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs;  MOU on Technical Cooperation in Environmental Protection, Climate Change and Water Resource Management between the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment of Singapore and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Laos; MOU on Energy Cooperation between the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore and the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Laos; and MOU on Digital Cooperation between the Ministry of Communications and Information of Singapore and the Ministry of Technology and Communications of Laos.  The Prime Ministers looked forward to the 50^th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations in 2024.

The two Prime Ministers also exchanged views on regional developments, and emphasised the importance of upholding ASEAN Centrality and unity. Prime Minister Lee announced the Singapore-Laos Enhanced Cooperation Package to support Laos’ Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2024. Prime Minister Lee reaffirmed Singapore’s support for Laos’ human capital development and welcomed Laos’ continued strong participation in the Singapore Cooperation Programme, which commemorates its 30^th anniversary in 2022.  

Prime Minister Phankham received a call by Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for Social Policies Tharman Shanmugaratnam. They discussed ways to deepen cooperation in human capital development, and affirmed the importance of an effective and inclusive education system as the foundation for every society’s progress. They also exchanged views on growing investments in areas such as logistics and infrastructure.

.    .    .    .    .

MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

28 SEPTEMBER 2022