Economic, trade ties between China, Laos developing healthily: report

VIENTIANE - A report on China-Laos cooperation opportunities under the Belt and Road Initiative was released here Friday at a forum aimed at fostering closer cooperation between the two neighbors under the Belt and Road cooperation.

The report, released by the China Economic Information Service, said that economic and trade relations between China and Laos have been developing constantly with great achievements.

"Now China is the largest foreign investor, the second largest trade partner, and the largest aid provider of Laos, and Laos is the third largest destination of China's investment in ASEAN countries," said the report.

With China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos' strategy of "turning itself from a landlocked country into a land-linked country" providing constant motive force to trade and economic cooperation, the two countries have carried out a series of fruitful cooperation.

The report pointed out that such major cooperative projects as China-Laos Railway, Nam Ou River Hydropower Station, Saysettha Development Zone and Mohan-Boten Economic Zone have not only created jobs and increased revenue for relevant regions, but also brought about benefits to Laos' long-term development, becoming the new engine of economic growth.

The report found that with high degree matching and complementarity in geographical position, society and culture, as well as economical features and development strategy, Laos and China have a broad prospect for cooperation, offering a lot of investment opportunities for their enterprises.

"With domestic peace and stability, Laos has extensive room for development. Its economy has maintained a medium-high growth in recent years. Its 7.02 percent growth rate of 2016 is not only much higher than the average global figure but also above the 6.5 percent average of the emerging Asian economies," the report said.

Laos has the potential for medium-high growth in the future, which means stable environment and many opportunities for investment, said the report, adding that the accelerated alignment of the development strategies of Laos and China has provided broad prospects for their cooperation.

The two-day Laos-China Belt and Road Cooperation Forum, the first of its kind, is jointly organized by the Commission for Propaganda and Training of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, the Lao Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism, China's Xinhua News Agency, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and the Lao Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

A number of business cooperation intentions or agreements were signed on Friday, including the publishing of a navigation and tourism App using technology of China's Beidou navigation system.