People on both sides of the border consistently accompany and support one another, promoting solidarity and friendship while contributing to the construction of a border of peace, stability, cooperation, and mutual development.

Overcoming vast mountain ranges, the twinned relationship over the past 9 years between the two villages of Gia Phú A (Mường Nhà commune, Điện Biên province, Vietnam) and Huổi Ven (Mường Hợp cluster, Phonthong district, Luang Prabang province, Laos) has served as evidence for the special friendship and solidarity between the brotherly peoples of Vietnam and Laos.

Since April 2017, with the consensus of local authorities and the hearts of the people, Gia Phú A and Huổi Ven officially established a twinned relationship. Based on many similarities in customs, habits, beliefs, and daily life, the people of the two villages have become increasingly attached, tightening their bonds of sentiment. Twinning has thus become a connecting thread, contributing to the strengthening of an already durable relationship within the community.

Since the twinning began, the relationship between the two villages has grown in depth. During times of funerals, weddings, or important community activities, villagers from both sides frequently visit, encourage, share joy, and support each other through difficulties. All these activities are carried out in a spirit of respecting the law and in close coordination with functional forces on both sides of the border.

Lầu A Sung, Head of Gia Phú A village, stated that people of the two villages have long held ethnic and kinship ties and share many cultural similarities. The twinning received very high consensus within the community; through this, the residents understand and trust each other more, joining hands to maintain security and order in the border area, helping each other develop the economy, and building a stable, progressive cultural life.

After nearly 9 years of attachment, the twinned relationship between Gia Phú A and Huổi Ven has transcended geographical boundaries to become a symbol of solidarity and sentiment in the borderlands. It is not only the affection between two villages but also a miniature image of the Vietnam-Laos friendship, preserved and nurtured from the simplest things in the daily lives of the two peoples.

Vì Văn Biến, Vice Chairman of the Mường Nhà commune People’s Committee, emphasized that the twinning of border residential clusters is of great significance in strengthening the solidarity and friendship between the people of Vietnam and Laos. This relationship contributes significantly to promoting cultural exchange, supporting socio-economic development, and creating a solid foundation for the emotional bond between the two villages specifically and the two localities in general.

Over the years, twinning activities between villages and localities in the border area have become a durable bridge, contributing to the cultivation of sentiment, the enhancement of cultural exchange, and the consolidation of trust among the people. Currently, the province has 9 pairs of twinned villages; among them, 8 pairs are on the Vietnam-Laos border and 1 pair is a township-to-commune twinning on the Vietnam-China border. These twinning models carry important political and foreign policy significance while creating a close bond with the community life of border residents.

For the past 5 years, the cooperation and exchange relationship between Sín Thầu commune (Điện Biên province, Vietnam) and Qushui town (Jiangcheng district, Yunan province, China) has consistently maintained its effectiveness. Both sides frequently exchange information regarding security and order in the border area, particularly in coordinating pandemic prevention and blocking illegal entry and exit, contributing to maintaining security and stability in the border region. They also promote cooperation in economy, culture, and sports, and support each other with crop seeds and livestock breeds.

Twinning activities between localities and villages in border areas have recently become a bright spot in the people-to-people diplomacy of Điện Biên province, contributing to tightening sentiment, consolidating trust, and increasing the attachment between the people of Vietnam and the neighboring peoples of Laos and China.

Through the “Twinning border residential clusters” models, cooperation is not limited to friendly exchanges but is increasingly going into depth, closely linked to the lives, activities, and socio-economic development of residents on both sides. In particular, twinned village pairs have coordinated well in legal education, protecting border lines and markers, pandemic prevention, maintaining security and order, and organizing cultural, artistic, and sporting exchanges, as well as visiting and encouraging each other during holidays and festivals. These simple yet warm encounters have contributed to deepening the spirit of solidarity and mutual assistance between border communities.