HANOI, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The General Secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and State President Choummaly Sayasone will soon pay an official visit to Vietnam, the local newspaper People reported Friday.

    According to the announcement of the Party Commission for External Affairs, the visit is at the invitation of the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Nong Duc Manh, and President Nguyen Minh Triet.

    In a recent Laos visit by Vietnam's Minister of Planning and Investment Vo Hong Phuc and other senior government experts, Lao Prime Minister Buasone Bouphavanh pledged that his government will work together with the Vietnamese government in promptly addressing inadequacies in investment and trade between the two countries.