Participants included Lao Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Padeumphone Sonthany, Deputy Chair Commissioner of the VSS Board of Commissioners Nguyen Van Cuong and Deputy Director General of VSS Dao Viet Anh.

Speaking at the meeting, VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh welcomed the Lao delegation to Vietnam.

"Implementing the first action of the Action Plan within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding, the VSS welcomed the Lao delegation to visit and share experience relating to obligations, rights, organisational structure and operation of the Lao National Social Security Organization as well as the building and implementing social security policies in Vietnam,” he said.

VSS Director General Nguyen The Manh speaking at the meeting

He said the social security industry’s digital transformation has brought breakthroughs in its professional activities, contributing to successfully building the Vietnam social security industry in line with the Party and State’s orientation regarding e-Government.

 A view of the meeting

The Vietnam social security industry currently has nearly 30 systems applying information technology; managed a database of 98.7 million people; connected with 13,000 medical establishments and over 620,000 organisations, businesses, ministries and sectors; and provided online public services for all administrative procedures of the industry. Each year, the Vietnam social security industry receives and handles nearly 300 million online dossiers.

Deputy Chair Commissioner of the VSS Board of Commissioners Nguyen Van Cuong shared with the Lao delegation the organisational structure and the role of the VSS Board of Commissioners in Vietnam. It also acts as a bridge connecting the People’s Committees of localities with social security officers at localities in order to effectively fulfil the political missions of the Vietnam social security industry.

Deputy Chair Commissioner of the VSS Board of Commissioners Nguyen Van Cuong speaking at the meeting

The VSS Board of Commissioners regularly supervises the implementation of social insurance and health insurance policies and laws in localities to discover good models while preventing violations of regulations about social insurance and health insurance.

At the working session, leaders of the Vietnam social security industry and representatives from the VSS shared with the Lao delegation some issues such as the management and use of social insurance and health insurance funds, the organisation, functions, tasks and operation mechanism of the VSS as well as the implementation of social insurance and health insurance policies.

Concluding the meeting, Lao Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Padeumphone Sonthany expressed his impression of the VSS’ success in implementing social insurance and health insurance policies. He appreciated the sharing of experience and consultancy about the implementation of social insurance and health insurance policies and laws which will help Laos to improve the implementation quality of social security policies.

Lao Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Padeumphone Sonthany speaking at the meeting

The VSS established ties with the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare in 1998. In December 2015, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation and an Action Plan during the 2016-2020 period. They have held many cooperation activities within the framework of the Memorandum of Understanding such as exchanges of delegations, sharing experiences in implementing social security policies and attending international conferences and workshops held by the two sides.

After five years of implementing the Memorandum of Understanding and the Action Plan, the VSS and the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare actively joined online activities such as sharing information and experience bilaterally and multilaterally hosted by the two sides during 2020-2022 amid difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The delegation from the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare took a group photo

In August 2022, in central Quang Nam Province, the VSS and the Lao National Social Security Organization held a meeting to review the implementation of their Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation during the 2016-2020 period and discuss cooperation activities during 2022-2025.

The Lao National Social Security Organization stressed the need to study and share experience with the VSS in organisational structure, functions and tasks as well as the operation mechanism of the VSS Board of Commissioners; social insurance inspection and examination experience; and communication and information dissemination about social security policies for people.

A delegation from the Lao National Assembly Committee on Cultural and Social Affairs recently held a working session with the VSS.  At the working session, leaders of the two sides agreed to increase experience sharing in implementing social insurance and health insurance policies. The VSS will help Laos expand the coverage rate of social insurance and health insurance; manage and invest the social insurance and health insurance funds effectively; build an insurance database; digital transformation; and support and share experience with Laos in amending the Law on Social Insurance in line with real circumstances.