. On November 23, 2018, External Affairs Minister of India, Smt. Sushma Swaraj co-chaired the 9th Joint Commission Meeting on Bilateral Cooperation (JCM), between the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and the Republic of India, held in Vientiane, Lao PDR. The Lao delegation was led by His Excellency Saleumxay Kommasith, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR. They held constructive discussions covering cooperation in agriculture, trade and investment, defence, education, culture, information technology, energy and mining. In the meeting, MoU between the Institute of Foreign Affairs of the Lao PDR and the Foreign Service Institute of India were signed for cooperation in the field of Diplomatic training.