North Korea, Laos seek economic cooperation
North Korea and Laos agreed on Saturday to foster economic cooperation as the Laotian prime minister began a goodwill visit, state media reported.
By Agencies |
SEOUL : North Korea and Laos agreed on Saturday to foster economic cooperation as the Laotian prime minister began a goodwill visit, state media reported.
The two impoverished communist countries signed an agreement to establish a joint committee for cooperation in economics, trade, science and technology, the Korean Central News Agency reported in a dispatch from Pyongyang.
Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh arrived earlier Saturday accompanied by officials including his ministers of agriculture and industry.
Bouasone and North Korean Premier Kim Yong Il held talks in which ``both sides exchanged views on boosting the bilateral friendly and cooperative relations and matters of mutual concern,'' KCNA said.
At a banquet, Kim and Bouasone made speeches lauding bilateral ties, it said.
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Laos is a single-party state with a ruling communist party that tightly controls politics but allows a liberalized economy. Communist North Korea allows no political opposition but has experimented with limited market reforms in recent years. Both countries are among the poorest in Asia. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Bouasone's trip would last 11 days and follows a visit by Kim to Laos in November. The two countries established diplomatic relations in 1974, the agency said.
Bouasone visited South Korea in June, according to Yonhap.
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