The Completed China-Laos Railway: Bringing Opportunities for ASEAN and the Asia Pacific
In early December 2021, Laos inaugurated the Boten-Vientiane railway, a 414-kilometer (km) electrified high-speed railway that runs between the capital Vientiane and the town of Boten on the Laos-China border. This US$6 billion project (equivalent to one-third of Laos’ GDP) is backed by China as part ...
Ayman Falak Medinav
PM outlines measures to drive growth, curb spending
Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on December 20 instructed authorities to ensure the macro-economy was stabilised along with improving the investment climate as key factors to attract investment and drive growth. The premier gave the advice during a two-day meeting that ended yesterday. The meeting was convened ...
Construction of fifth Lao-Thai Mekong bridge 23% complete
Work on the fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River, linking Pakxan district in Borikhamxay province to Bueng Kan province in northeastern Thailand, is now 23 per cent complete. The bridge is expected to be fully complete in 2024 and will serve to boost trade ...
Rice exports to China still facing challenges, official says
The trade in rice products between Laos and China still faces challenges due to the demand for high quality by Chinese buyers, according to a senior trade promotion official. This means Lao producers will have to try a lot harder to produce high quality rice ...
Thailand, Laos to open more friendship bridge this November
The fifth Thai – Lao friendship bridge, which links Bueng Kan province of Thailand with Pakxan town of Laos, is scheduled to open this November. Deputy Transport Minister of Thailand Manaporn Charoensri said recently that the project features a 1.35km crossover with a dual-lane road traversing ...
Govt pursues search for Lao Airlines joint venture partner
The government is still seeking a qualified partner to jointly operate Lao Airlines in a bid to achieve more efficient and profitable operation of the national flag carrier. Several potential foreign investors have expressed interest in forming a joint venture with the Lao government, a ...
Souksakhone Vaenkeo
Laos-Vietnam railway set to open for service in 2028
The Laos-Vietnam Railway is expected to be completed and open for service in 2028. The Petroleum Trading Lao Public Company (PTL) in cooperation with Yooshin Engineering Corporation & Korea National Railway will conduct a detailed design study of the railway before construction begins. A cooperation ...
The star
Rail network development plan disclosed
The Lao government has announced that it will pursue the development of at least four rail lines that will turn landlocked Laos into a land-linked nation with the planned Laos-China rail project given as top priority. Minister of Public Works and Transport Dr Bounchanh Sinthavong told ...
Landslide claims six lives in Phongsaly
Two parents and four children were killed in a landslide in Phongsaly province early on Sunday occurring after almost two weeks of rainfall. Head of Public Security Office of Samphan district Lieutenant Colonel Houmphaeng Khounsaniamphai told Vientiane Times yesterday that the landslide took place in Phearluang village ...
Vietnam to purchase more power from Laos
National utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN) has signed three memoranda to purchase power from Laotian companies amid expected energy shortages. EVN will buy power from two hydropower plants and one coal-fired power plant in neighboring country Laos starting 2024, according to the memorandums of understanding signed Sunday. The ...
Dat Nguyen
Laos, Vietnam celebrate border demarcation, maintenance project completion
The governments of Laos and Vietnam marked the completion of the border demarcation and maintenance of border markers project at a ceremony held on 16 March in Hanoi, Vietnam. Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong led a high-level Lao delegation at the event, according to a press release from ...
Laos-Vietnam promote tourism cooperation to strengthen bilateral ties
Laos and Vietnam have discussed plans on tourism cooperation, aiming to attract more visitors and strengthen ties between the two countries. Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Prof. Dr Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune welcomed Vietnamese Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Nguyen Ngoc Thien in Vientiane on ...
Viengdavanh Banphahaksa
Railway could be built sooner than planned: Official
Much has been done to move construction of the Vientiane-China railway forward following the groundbreaking ceremony that took place last month, the Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport has said. Mr Lattanamany Khounnivong told local media last week that construction could take just over four ...
Xayaboury dam 50% completed
After beginning in 2012, the construction of the US$3.5 billion Xayaboury dam is now about 50 per cent complete, according to a report by Vientiane Times. When it becomes operational in 2019, about 95 percent of the 1,285-megawatt electricity produced will be sold to Thailand. The dam, ...
New university to link up to SE Asian economic corridor
A new research university at Savannakhet – Laos’ second-largest city – in the western region is being built with loans and funding of up to US$40 million from the Asian Development Bank, or ADB, to provide skilled graduates for the region’s ‘economic corridor’ that runs ...
Japanese trade group promotes investment in Lao SEZs
The Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) Vientiane will work with the developers of four special economic zones (SEZs) to encourage more investment by Japanese companies, to boost trade and economic ties between Laos and Japan. A Memorandum of Cooperation was signed in Vientiane on Tuesday by ...
Laos’s threat to the Mekong River
Sipandon – meaning 4,000 Islands – is an area of immense biodiversity, ecotourism and abundance of fish migration, but its survival is at serious risk from the hydropower Don Sahong dam, which is on the verge of construction. “If this special wetlands zone is protected, it ...
Where’s the beef? Laos can’t meet Chinese cattle import demands
China has agreed to import half a million cows this year from Laos, but the landlocked Southeast Asian nation is having trouble filling the order due to a lack of capacity to produce them and high quality standards imposed by Beijing, Lao government officials and ...
Translated by Sidney Khotpanya for RFA Lao service. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.
China pledges to advance ties with Laos
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met with Lao President Choummaly Sayasone in Beijing on 1 September, pledging to advance ties with Laos. Choummaly is in Beijing to attend activities to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ...
Villagers in Laos and Thailand Suffer as China Opens the Floodgates on Mekong River Dams
Villagers living near the Mekong River in Thailand and Laos are finding it difficult to cope with sudden releases of water from dams upstream in China. More than 200 famililes living in Laos’ Bokeo province have suffered because of sudden increases in the height of the ...
