Sino-Lao co-op sees notable development with promising future: Laotian PM

VIENTIANE—The trade and economic cooperation between China and Laos has made outstanding progress in recent years and it is endowed with promising future, Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh told Xinhua here about the prospect of Sino-Lao relations.
“The Sino-Lao cooperation will be more efficient and pragmatic under the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) economic cooperation mechanism,” said Bouasone.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua prior to the upcoming Third GMS Summit, where leaders of the six GMS countries — Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam, will be meeting in Vientiane, Laos on 30-31 March 2008 to discuss the progress and chart future directions in GMS cooperation, Bouasone highly valued the compressive development of the bilateral relations between the two GMS member countries.
China and Laos have traditional friendship and enjoy healthy and steady development under the principles of long-term stability, good neighborliness, mutual trust and comprehensive cooperation, Bouasone said.
There have been frequent exchanges of high-profile visits especially since the entering of the 21st century. The two countries leaders sincerely exchanged views on lots of bilateral, regional and international issues and reached a wide range of consensus with the signing of a series of friendly cooperation agreements, he added.
In 2007, the volume of bilateral trade between Laos and China was 249 million U.S. dollars, increasing by 218.4 percent from 2004. China’s export to and import from Laos were respectively 164million U.S. dollars and 85 million U.S. dollars, rising by 162.4 percent and 653.8 percent from 2004.
Till the end of 2007, Laos had accumulatively invested 17 million U.S. dollars in China, and the latter’s non-financial direct investment accumulatively reached 146 million U.S. dollars. While China and Laos maintained a good momentum of development on political relations, they also expanded the range of trade and economic cooperation. The cooperation with governments, regional bodies, non-governmental organizations and private sectors have been intensified and deepened, Bouasone said.
The Third GMS Summit, with a theme of “Enhancing Competitiveness Through Greater Connectivity”, aims to sustain and deepen economic cooperation and integration efforts among the GMS countries in order to better meet development challenges and realize the common vision of an integrated, harmonious and prosperous subregion.

—Xinhua