Presenting honorary doctorate to Sonexay Siphandone and Khemphet Sebounheuang from Laos

01/08/2012

Vietnam and Laos are neighbouring countries. The friendship, mutual understanding and comprehensive cooperation has been respected and nurtured by generations of people from the two countries. Over the past of five decades, the special solidarity and cooperation between the two countries has been consolidated, developed and enlarged, in every field.

Sonexay Siphandone, member of the Party Committee of Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR), governor of Champasak province and Khemphet Sebounheuang, Lao Minister of Natural Resources and Environment has made a great contribution to science and technology cooperation between Vietnam and Laos through the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST).. On the occasion of visiting LPDR from May 23^rd to 25^th 2012, Prof. Chau Van Minh, member of the Vietnam Communist Party Central Committee and VAST president presented honorary an doctorate to them to recognize their considerable contribution.

Prof. Chau Van Minh present honorary doctorate to Sonexay Siphandone

Prof. Chau Van Minh present honorary doctorate to Khemphet Sebounheuang

Over the past many years, on their position, Sonexay Siphandone and Khemphet Sebounheuang supported legal procedures to create favourable conditions for investment, application, research and implementation of science and technology for socio-economic development in Laos.

Especially, from 2011, when they actively supported and promoted the signing agreements and memorandum of understandings on science and technology cooperation between Champasak province and the Center for Training, Consultancy and Technology Transfer under VAST. These agreements focused the implementation of common study projects, strengthening capacity, infrastructure and technology transfer in the fields of biotechnology for agriculture, environmental technology, remote sensing technology, geology, geography and especially information technology.

So far, several activities in the agreement have been carried out such as:

Training cadres and staff in Champasak province in information technology (five training courses);

Building a project on master plan for information technology development and application in Champasak province in 2012-2016 period, orientations until 2020;

Building a project on information portal and management software for Champasak provincial External Relation Office.

VAST president presented the honorary doctorates to Sonexay Siphandone và Khemphet Sebounheuang based on contributions to friendship and cooperative relations between Vietnam – Lao and between VAST and Champasak province, and for the results from the Science Council under VAST and proposal of the Lao Embassy in Vietnam. They were two first cadres from LPDR to receive honorary doctorates from VAST.

Translated by Tuyet Nhung

Link to Vietnamese Version