HANOI, May 6. /TASS/. President Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos will make a visit to Russia on May 7-11, the Laotian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

"In response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invitation, President Thongloun Sisoulith will lead a high-level Laotian delegation that will visit Russia on May 7-11," the statement reads.

Timed to the 30th anniversary of the Treaty on the Foundations of Friendly Relations between Laos and Russia, the visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation. The Laotian president will be the guest of honor at the events celebrating the 79th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War, the ministry added.

The presidents of Russia and Laos last met on October 17, 2023, in Beijing, where they both participated in the Belt and Road International Forum.

Sisoulith graduated from the Herzen Leningrad State Pedagogical University in 1978. He received a PhD from the Academy of Social Sciences under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1984. Sisoulith served as chief of the Laotian State Planning Committee, minister of labor and social welfare, foreign minister, deputy prime minister and prime minister. He was elected president in 2021.