The first Belt and Road Forum for Laos-China Cooperation will be held in Vientiane, Laos from Dec.19-20, according to organizers.
The Lao News Agency (KPL), China Economic Information Service (CEIS) and Lao Chinese Chamber of Commerce announced on Saturday that they will jointly host the forum, themed "Opportunities and Outlook of Laos-China Cooperation - Strategic Integration of Laos' Strategy of Transformation from a Landlocked to a Land-linked Country and the Belt and Road Initiative."
The forum will explore the huge opportunity brought by strategy connection to Laos-China cooperation with focus on a number of representative industries in both countries, said Kuang Lecheng, vice president of CEIS, affiliated with China's Xinhua News Agency.
It will also focus on how the Belt and Road Initiative can help boost Laos' economic and social development and the all-round cooperation between the two countries, he added.
The forum also aims to become a great event on Belt and Road cooperation within the Lancang-Mekong cooperation mechanism and among Southeast Asian countries, he said.
Kuang noted that the national news agencies of the two countries will co-host the forum. It is hoped that the forum would show the world that the Belt and Road Initiative has achieved fruitful results with ongoing China-Laos pragmatic cooperation.
The event will also promote the "Silk Road Spirit," which features peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit, he said.
With the strength of the overseas Chinese in Laos, the two sides will jointly build a new cooperation platform to promote the connection of Laos' strategy of transformation from a landlocked to a land-linked country and China's Belt and Road Initiative, and to build a China-Laos community of common destiny of strategic significance, said Kuang.
"To serve the Belt and Road Initiative, driven by Cai Mingzhao, president of Xinhua News Agency, CEIS has launched 'Xinhua Silk Road,' a national Belt and Road information service platform," said Kuang.
Through the forum, "Xinhua Silk Road" expects to build a sustainable and efficient communication platform for the cooperation between China and Laos, help Chinese enterprises access Laos, introduce Laos' competitive industries to China, expand the space for China-Laos economic and trade cooperation, and promote the people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, he added.
A film Dok Champa, co-produced by the two countries' filmmakers, will premiere in Laos during the forum in December, according to organizers.
