Lao, Vietnamese State Audit Bodies Deepen Regional Cooperation

President of the State Audit Organization of the Lao PDR, Viengthavisone Thephachan, received a delegation led by Vice Presidents Pham Tien Dung of Vietnam’s Regional State Audit Office I and Nguyen Huu Tri of Regional State Audit Office VIII in Vientiane on September 14, 2026. The visit aims to strengthen cooperation between the State Audit Organizations of Laos and Vietnam, particularly between their regional and local audit offices. The Vietnamese delegation is scheduled to hold bilateral discussions and exchange professional experience with the Southern Regional State Audit Office in Champasak Province from September 15–18. During the meeting, Mr. Viengthavisone commended the two Vietnamese regional audit offices for their cooperation in strengthening the professional capacity of Lao auditors. He noted that these offices had hosted delegations from the Northern Regional Audit Office 1 and the Southern Regional Audit Office of Laos and shared auditing expertise during exchanges in 2024 and 2025. He also expressed appreciation for the continued support and cooperation from the Vietnamese Government and State Audit Organization. In June 2026, President of the State Audit Organization of Vietnam Ngo Van Quyet led a delegation to Laos for an official bilateral visit and experience exchange, presenting an LED display system to the Lao State Audit Organization. The two sides exchanged information on socio-economic development and recent achievements in state auditing and discussed future cooperation, including regular exchanges between regional audit offices and expanded professional capacity-building. The Lao side proposed that the Vietnamese regional audit offices continue supporting Lao counterparts through information sharing, training courses, seminars, and the deployment of experienced auditors for practical, on-site audit work in areas of mutual interest. Also on the same day, the 3rd Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), hosted by Laos, commenced in Vientiane, with the Prime Minister emphasizing in his opening remarks the need for shared humanitarian responsibility in healing the wounds of war. This highlights the international community's engagement with the long-standing unexploded ordnance issue in Laos and may suggest the growing importance of audit institutions in the context of enhancing national governance transparency. Source: KPL Laos News