Laos and Vietnam have jointly conducted a survey to determine locations for demarcation of their common borderline along the Neun River in northern Laos where a hydropower project is planned. High ranking officials from both nations visited the site from September 13-16 to conduct the survey and define clear locations before planting the border markers. The Lao delegation was led by Deputy Foreign Minister and President of the Laos-Vietnam Joint Border Marker Planting Committee, Mr Bounkeut Sangsomsak. The Vietnamese side was headed by Deputy Foreign Minister, Ho Xuan Son, who is President of the Vietnam-Lao Joint Border Marker Planting Committee. The borderline along the Neun River is 35km long, and the Lao side belongs to the provinces of Xieng Khuang and Huaphan, while the Vietnamese side is in Nghe An province. The information collected by the joint border committee will be used by a taskforce assigned by the two countries to conduct a detailed feasibility study of the hydropower project. The committee decided to relocate the markers near the Neun River that the two sides had already installed. The relocation aims to ensure the border markers are not submerged after the construction of the hydropower plant by a Vietnamese investor. The two nations are operating a project to install more than 800 additional border markers along the common border of Laos and Vietnam which will run until 2014.
Source: Vientiane Times
