Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Social Security (VSS) Dao Viet Anh chaired a meeting with a delegation from the National Social Security Fund of Laos (NSSF), led by NSSF Deputy General Director Phetsamone Soukthaviphone, in Hanoi on March 27.

The Lao delegation, including directors of NSSF units in Khammouan, Luang Prabang, Xayyaboury, Vientinane and Udomxay, was visiting Vietnam to exchange experience with the VSS. Welcoming his guests, VSS Deputy Director General Dao Viet Anh said based on the strong relations between Vietnam and Laos, the VSS has always attached importance to friendship with Lao partners in social welfare.

The VSS and the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare signed a Memorandum of Understanding on personnel capacity building in social welfare policy between 2016 and 2020. The two sides have maintained regular exchanges of visits between their leaders and experts to share experience and discuss practices in enforcing policies and laws related to social security and health insurance schemes, he noted.

In addition to bilateral cooperation, the VSS and Lao partners have coordinated with and supported each other in multilateral activities within the framework of the ASEAN Social Security Association (ASSA), he added.

Deputy Director General of the Vietnam Social Security Dao Viet Anh delivers a remark at a meeting with officials from the National Social Security Fund of Laos (Source: VSS)

Anh updated his Lao counterpart on significant steps the VSS made in 2017 with expansion in national coverage of social insurance, health insurance and compulsory insurance schemes. About 86 percent of the population are covered by the health insurance, exceeding the country’s target. The VSS has also made great strides in public administrative reforms as the number of administrative steps reduced from 115 to 28 and the amount of time needed to process the procedures fell from 335 hours per year to 49 hours per year. It has achieved progress in information technology application with roughly 90 percent of organisations and businesses performing transactions online and all medical establishments getting access to the VSS’s health insurance database.

He went on to say that the VSS has also focused on media communications. It has cooperated with about 70 news agencies and newspapers to disseminate information in various forms of communications. As a result, updates on policies and laws on social security and health insurance have been sent to every corner of the country.

He hoped that through exchanges of experience between leading experts in the field, the Lao delegation would be able to translate experience into reality. He wanted the partnership between the VSS and NSSF to grow and harvest positive results.

On behalf of the working group, Phetsamone Soukthaviphone said that the Lao social security fund is established under the Lao Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to ensure social insurance and health insurance policies for public servants and labourers of the business bloc.

Laos wants to cooperate and share experience with the Vietnam in communication works and expansion of social and health insurance coverage, he said. He also took the occasion to express his wish for thriving Vietnam-Laos relations.

Duong Van Thang, Head of the Popularisation Department of the Vietnam Social Security’s Party Organisation and Editor-in-Chief of the VSS magazine, introduced Resolution No.96/NQ-BCS of civil affairs committee of the VSS’s Party Organisation on the renovation of social insurance and health insurance communications works.

Thang noted that the VSS organised two communication training courses for its staff in November and set up an information and communications bureau to bolster communications works and linkage with other media agencies.

The VSS is building a communications model based on the unanimous leadership from the central to local agencies.

The VSS’s communications works to increase social and health insurance coverage were shared by Deputy Director of the Contribution Collection Department Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, and Deputy Director of the Media Center Duong Ngoc Anh at the event.

In the framework of the Lao working group visit to Vietnam from March 26-30, they had working session with the Social Security Newspaper on popularisation works on the press and visited the Northern Centre for Medical Review and Tertiary Care Payment.

International Cooperation Department