Myanmar / Laos: C-in-C welcomed with Guard of Honour

Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services General Ye Win Oo, who is currently paying a goodwill visit to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, was welcomed with a Guard of Honour by Lieutenant General Saichay Kommasith, Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of General Staff of the Lao People’s Armed Forces, on Tuesday afternoon.

Upon arrival at the Ministry of National Defence of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic where the welcoming ceremony was held, the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services and the Lao Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of General Staff received the salute of the Guard of Honour and inspected the troops.

Afterwards, they introduced senior military officers from their respective delegations to each other and took a commemorative group photograph, before holding formal talks at the Ministry’s reception hall.

During the meeting, both sides cordially and openly exchanged views on strengthening bilateral friendship and cooperation between the two-armed forces, facilitating mutual goodwill visits at various levels, expanding border trade, and enhancing cooperation to ensure border stability and tranquility.

Discussions also covered joint training initiatives, mutual exchanges of military sports teams and cultural troupes, ongoing crackdowns to eradicate online gambling and online scams, and Myanmar’s continuous operations aimed at completely eliminating these illicit operations across the region while preventing their resurfacing in the future.

In this regard, it was highlighted that 1,053 structures related to online fraud operations have been demolished to date.

Furthermore, discussions touched upon anti-narcotics law enforcement and plans to cooperate in preventing ethnic armed organizations which generate income through illicit drug production and distribution to purchase weapons and ammunition from taking refuge along the shared border.

They also discussed the successful holding of Regional Border Committee (RBC) and Joint Border Security Committee (JBSC) meetings, as well as the State’s ongoing efforts to achieve domestic peace and development.

Following the meeting, the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services and the Lao Deputy Minister of National Defence and Chief of General Staff exchanged commemorative gifts and took documentary photographs.

The Commander-in-Chief and his delegation subsequently visited the Monument to Unknown Soldiers and laid a wreath to pay tribute.