Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has urged relevant ministries and agencies from Vietnam and Laos to increase meetings to remove all obstacles hindering bilateral investment relations.

The government leader made the request while receiving Lao Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Thoonglun Sisulith in Hanoi on November 28.

Speaking of the growing co-operation in all areas between Vietnam and Laos , PM Dung said an increasing number of Vietnamese businesses are investing in Laos .

On the same day, Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Thoonglun Sisulith met his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Gia Khiem.

Both sides said they were pleased about their bilateral co-operation in economic, cultural and social areas. Many Vietnamese-invested projects have been carried out in Laos, including the US $1.7 billion Luong Prabang hydro-electric power plant, and the newly opened Hanoi-Luong Prabang-Siem Reap air route, and a project to explore oil and gas.

Deputy PM Khiem thanked Laos for its recent support in Vietnam becoming a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.

The officials said they were pleased with co-ordination between the two Ministries of Foreign Affairs as well as between the two nations within international and regional forums such as the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Co-operation Strategy, the Greater Mekong Subregion and the freshly ended 13^th ASEAN Summit in Singapore.

Also on November 28, Deputy PM Thoonglun Sisulith was received by Truong Tan Sang, permanent member of the Secretariat of the Party Central Committee. (VNA)