Vice President returns home after concluding two-nation tour

Dear Readers,

Recently our Vice President Hamid Ansari embarked on a visit to Cambodia and Laos. This trip becomes more important because he will be the first ever Vice President to visit Laos. For the examination point of view, it is really important for you to know the facts. So let us read more about it.

First of all we should know the capital and currency of the country he visited. We should also know who is the head of the state he is visiting. Below are the details.

Capital: Phnom Penh

Currency: Cambodian riel

Prime Minister: Hun Sen

Capital: Vientiane

Currency: Lao kip

Prime Minister: Thongsing Thammavong

President: Choummaly Sayasone

Cambodia Visit:

Ansari, who travelled to Cambodia on the first leg of his trip, held wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen following which two MoUs were signed - one on tourism and the other on "quick impact projects". The Mekong-Ganga MoU related to five ‘quick impact projects’, one of which was a $50,000-grant to Cambodia for the upgradation of an Entrepreneurship Development Centre. The other four projects included two in healthcare, especially to do with malaria, one on agriculture and one on women’s empowerment. The tourism MoU was aimed at boosting tourist movement between the two countries. Following the meeting with Mr Hun Sen, Mr Ansari also addressed Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, the first such address by a high-level foreign dignitary.

Mr. Ansari also mentioned a Special Purpose Vehicle with regard to the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) countries, a decision initially announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget. “As part of our initiatives, the government has recently set up a Special Purpose Vehicle to attract Indian investments to Cambodia and other CLMV countries. We hope to launch this new initiative soon and I am confident that in the near future, more Indian companies will explore the investment opportunities,” Mr Ansari said. The Vice President travelled to Siem Reap and visited Angkor Wat, the world's largest Hindu temple complex. India has allayed Cambodian concerns over reports of building of the temple's replica in Bihar. He also visited the Ta Prohm temple and the Mekong-Ganga Textile museum in Siem Reap which was set up with India's assistance.

Laos Visit:

Vice-President Hamid Ansari on Friday signed two memorandums of understanding with his counterpart in Laos, Bounyang Vorachith in the Presidential Palace Ho Kham. The MoUs cover an air services agreement — allowing airlines to start a direct flight between the two countries — and another agreement for three ‘quick impact projects’ in the agriculture sector. India was handed over two certificates of completion of two irrigation projects in the Champassak province of Laos. The signing of agreements followed a restricted meeting between the two Vice Presidents and delegation-level talks.

During the talks, Vice President Ansari spoke about the fact that economic relations between India and Laos were below potential and that the two countries had agreed to step up economic cooperation. He also brought up the issue of facilitating a better investment climate in Laos to make it feasible for companies to invest in the country, especially in the pulp, mining, and small and medium enterprise sectors. After the diplomatic meetings, Mr. Ansari visited the Soldiers Monument, built to commemorate Lao heroes who died in war during 1945 to 1973. He also visited the That Luang Stupa, where he paid respects to the Buddha’s statue and signed the visitors’ book.

Apart from these, we have two more things that came up the discussion. The two group of nations have been mentioned in the above article viz. Mekong-Ganga Cooperation and Association of South East Asian Nation (ASEAN). 

ASEAN Summit:

• The 27th ASEAN Summit, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 18-22 November 2015.
• 26th ASEAN Summit, Kuala Lumpur & Langkawi, Malaysia, 26-28 April 2015.

ASEAN Member Nations: Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam

The working mechanism for MGC consists of the Annual Ministerial Meeting (back to back with ASEAN Ministerial Meeting), the Senior Official’s Meeting, and the five Working Groups namely;

• Working Group on Tourism (Thailand is the lead country)
• Working Group on Education (HRD) (India is the lead country)
• Working Group on Culture (Cambodia is the lead country)
• Working Group on Communication & Transportation (Laos PDR is the lead country)
• Working Group on Plan of Actions (Vietnam is the lead country)

MGC Member Nations: India, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam

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