VIENTIANE, April 21 (ChinaMil) -- Sengnuan Saiyalath, defense minister of Lao People's Democratic Republic, held official talks with Xu Qiliang, the visiting vice chairman of China's Central Military Commission (CMC), on the afternoon of April 20, 2015.

　　Sengnuan said that the Lao side sincerely thanks for the long-term, selfless and huge assistance offered to Laos by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Chinese government and the Chinese military. For many years, the constantly consolidating traditional friendship and the increasingly close friendly cooperation between Laos and China have resulted in remarkable achievements, Sengnuan said.

　　The Lao side is deeply inspired by the splendid achievements made by the CPC since the 18th CPC National Congress and is full of confidence in strengthening the traditional friendship and pushing forward the comprehensive cooperation between the two parties, the two militaries and the peoples of the two countries, Sengnuan added.

　　Sengnuan stressed that the Lao military is willing to make hand-in-hand efforts with the Chinese military to constantly deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, so as to make positive contributions to the regional peace and stability.

　　Xu Qiliang said that the China-Laos friendship was jointly created by the older-generation leaders of the two countries. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations 54 years ago, the relations between the two countries have withstood the tests of ever-changing international and regional situations, as evidenced by the mutual support on issues concerning fundamental interests of the two countries and the steady growth of bilateral economic and trade contacts, Xu added.

　　Xu Qiliang emphasized that the Chinese side is willing to make joint efforts with the Lao side to further expand the pragmatic cooperation between the two militaries, constantly upgrade the level of cooperation between the two militaries, and jointly tackle challenges, so as to push forward the in-depth development of the relations between the two militaries and inject new connotations into the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

　　Before the talks, Sengnuan held a grand welcoming ceremony for Xu Qiliang. Guan Huabing, Chinese ambassador to Laos, and Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of general staff of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), attended the above activities.