Lao state-run media published an article by a Chinese diplomat earlier this week citing the benefits that China's Belt and Road infrastructure project will bring to Laos.
The article, first released by the KPL news agency on Monday and published on the following day by the official newspaper of the Lao People's Party Central Committee, introduced the origin of the initiative, its purposes and achievements over the past three years.
Titled "Jointly Building Belt and Road Initiative, Singing up a China-Laos Cooperation Song," it said Laos was among the first countries to support the initiative, along with being one of its many beneficiaries.
The Belt and Road will promote a new era of pragmatic cooperation between China and Laos, wrote Zhao Chenggang, provisional charge d'affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Laos.
Zhao said infrastructure inter-connectivity is a priority area for both countries to work together. With the ongoing construction of a China-Laos railway and trade and investment, China has become Laos' biggest source of foreign investment and its second biggest trading partner.
Referring to the Vientiane Branch of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which is now the largest commercial bank in Laos by assets, Zhao said financial cooperation is vital for the Initiative to succeed in the landlocked southeast Asian country.
Meanwhile, people-to-people exchanges between the two countries provide a solid social foundation for the Initiative, the article said.
Lao President Bounnhang Vorachit is scheduled to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation to be held in Beijing May 14-15.
