Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt welcomed his Laotian counterpart Athsaphangthong Siphandone and Laos Ambassador to Thailand Khamphan Anlavan who were here to discuss cooperation between the two capitals.

Also present at the meeting at Shangri-La Hotel on Friday were embassy staff and city officials from Vientiane.

The discussion between the governors covered three key aspects of cooperation, namely education, public health and tourism. Both parties also discussed additional points to be added to the 2008 Bangkok-Vientiane memorandum of understanding on joint projects.

The cooperation in education will focus on establishing an exchange programme for teachers and the use of technology to boost the learning of students in both cities.

Chadchart also offered to send staff from BMA’s vocational institutes to train personnel in Vientiane or online on subjects that have a high demand in the job market.

On the public health side of things, Bangkok has agreed to share its best practices in telemedicine gathered from the “BMA Doctor” application and the City Lab project, by providing tabletop medical exercises via videoconferencing between medical practitioners in both cities to boost their ability in e-healthcare.

The “BMA Doctor” application was co-developed by the BMA and Vajira Hospital, while the City Lab project was set up in collaboration with Navamindradhiraj University.

On the tourism aspect, both cities agreed to promote historic attractions in both cities with a focus on the midnight economy, stimulating community enterprises and improving the quality of street food.

As for the addendum to the 2008 Bangkok-Vietnam MoU, Bangkok agreed to support the building of the Bangkok-Vientiane Friendship Public Park in the Lao capital’s Sikhottabong district by sending experts to help with the design and construction. Thailand can only provide non-monetary aid as Thai law prohibits the use of the state budget in foreign projects.