Çavuşoğlu discusses bilateral ties with Laotian counterpart, inaugurates embassy

FOREIGN Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met his Laotian counterpart Saleumxay Kommasith yesterday in the capital of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic to discuss bilateral relations.

In the meeting, Çavuşoğlu highlighted the importance of Turkey’s new embassy in Laos for bilateral relations, which was inaugurated in the capital province of Vientiane on Wednesday.

Çavuşoğlu, currently on a two-day visit in Vientiane, is the first Turkish foreign minister to visit Laos.

Meanwhile, Turkish citizens are now able to get visas for Laos issued at the border, according to Laotian Premier Thongloun Sisoulith yesterday.

Sisoulith’s announcement came during a meeting with Çavuşoğlu in his office in Vientiane.

During his visit, Çavuşoğlu also offered his condolences to the Laotian people over the floods that hit the country in the summer.

Many households and villages in Laos were damaged from flooding and landslides in August.

Laos, one of the poorest countries in Asia, has transitioned from communism to a market economy but remains a single-party state where freedoms are limited. There is virtually no freedom of the press, and foreign reporters who visit operate under tight restrictions, limiting the flow of information.