VIENTIANE, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Laos' National Assembly President Xaysomphone Phomvihane passed away at 11:18 a.m. local time on Saturday at the age of 70 after battling with severe vasculitis, Pasaxon newspaper reported.
To honor his contributions and express their deepest condolences, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and the government have agreed to observe a five-day national mourning period from Aug. 9 to 13. Xaysomphone was a prominent leader who had devoted his life to the revolutionary cause of the Party, national development, and the well-being of the Lao people, said the report.
His death is a great loss to the Lao Party, the country, and its people, it added. ■