News Analysis: From commodities to satellites: China, Laos seeing ever-evolving cooperation

China and Laos have witnessed rapid development in economic, trade cooperation in the past years, evolving from simple commodity trading to a higher level of cooperation.

On Nov. 21, 2015, Laos' first ever satellite was launched into space from Xichang satellite launching center in China. Earlier on Nov. 13, 2015, the long-awaited railway project connecting China and Laos had been signed by the two governments thus entering the implementation phase.

Attending the launching of Lao Sat-1 satellite on Nov. 21, Yao Bin, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Laos and Chairman of Kritaphong Group Co., Ltd. was moved to tears.

"I was so excited. Seven years of effort have finally yielded fruitful results, which will further consolidate the community of shared destiny and the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Laos," Yao, who has been a promoter and a participant of the satellite project during its seven-year period, told Xinhua.

Kritaphong Group has also joined in promoting a railway project connecting the two countries by introducing the prospects and socio-economic benefits of the project to local government and residents.

Having worked in Laos since the early 1990s, Yao Bin has witnessed the increased development of economic cooperation between China and Laos. From his first success of trading bicycles and tiles in Laos in 1990, Yao has expanded his business to construction engineering.

Yao has also cooperated with various Chinese state-owned and private enterprises in fields of real estate, construction materials, hotels, and communications, among others.

The promotion of satellite and railway projects are among the high-profile projects that his corporation has engaged in.

"China and Laos enjoy high political mutual trust and a win-win economic cooperation. The cooperation between the two countries has been evolving from low level to a higher and more intensified level; turning from simple trade to exports of complete sets of equipment and cooperation in high technology," Yao said.

"The cooperation in satellite and railway projects are the two landmarks in the development of bilateral ties," Yao told Xinhua.

In the early nineties, more than 90 percent of daily

necessities and production materials in Laos were imported as there was no industry in the country. At that time, many Chinese people found the opportunities to do business in Laos.

"I started my business in Laos with 1,000 yuan's worth of daily necessities placed in front of people's homes to sell. Lao people are very kind. They did not bargain. I sold out all the goods within four to five days," Song Jiefeng, Executive Vice President of the Hunan Chamber of Commerce in Laos, recalled.

After that, Song, together with his fellow villagers, continued to bring commodities to Lao's rural areas to sell. "We had meals and slept along the road whenever we could. Sometimes, we had to sleep outside local residents' homes," Song said.

For now, Song and his fellows have become bosses running various kinds of companies in Laos, saying farewell to low-end trading.

Song himself currently runs an international air agency which provides direct flights connecting Laos' capital Vientiane and China's Hunan province, facilitating transportation for Hunan native people doing business in Laos.

With the rapid development of bilateral economic-trade relations, the establishment of the Mohan-Boten Economic Cooperation Zone between China and Laos recently in August is expected to contribute to creating favorable conditions for people-to-people as well as trade exchanges between the two sides.

The Mohan-Boten zone was the second cross-border Economic Cooperation Zone between China and a neighboring country after that of the Sino-Kazakh International Trade Center.

The economic cooperation zone is a new model of China-Laos bilateral cooperation, and is among measures to accelerate the opening-up process.

To date, at the site of Laos' Boten, the construction of a business-financial zone, a tourism-cultural zone, and a logistics-processing zone, among others, has been basically completed, with parts of them put into operation.

This helps laying a solid foundation for the cross-border economic cooperation zone, and also helps facilitating exchanges between the two countries.

The Mohan-Boten zone is not the only symbol of China-Laos cooperation.

Located around 21 km from Laos' Vientiane capital, the Laos Saysettha Development Zone has so far welcomed 19 enterprises settling down,including China's Dongyan-Laos oil refining project, DSG Logistics Parks of Thailand, Laos National Tobacco Company, among others.

Laos Saysettha Development Zone is China's 10th overseas economic cooperation zone, and also a major projects within the "Belt and Road" initiative proposed by China.

This is also a new field of China's Yunnan Province Construction Engineering group Co. Ltd. in sustainable development and whole industry chain cooperation with Laos after its almost 20 years of operation in the country.

Yunnan Province Construction Engineering group has also cooperated with local enterprises to build the Vientiane Center, a complex for finance, offices and shopping activities.

The Vientiane Center is the first modern, large-scaled shopping center in Laos, which helps increase the level of urbanization in the country's capital city. This is also a bright example for the success of Yunnan Province Construction Engineering group in Laos.

"To be one of the first Chinese companies entering Laos, in the past 20 years, Yunnan Province Construction Engineering group has witnessed the development of Chinese enterprises in the country," Wang YunChuan, Laos Regional Manager and Deputy General Manager of International Engineering Department at Yunnan Province Construction Engineering group, said.

"With the 'Belt and Road' initiative and the desire for a win-win cooperation of the two peoples, the economic cooperation between China and Laos needs to be further developed," Wang emphasized.

Beside Yunnan Province Construction Engineering Group, many projects of China's big state-owned enterprises in Laos have also yielded fruitful achievements.

In November alone, apart from the satellite and railway projects, five other large-scaled projects between China and Laos had been launched or completed.

On Nov. 6, the river closure of Nam Tha 1 Hydropower project was successful. On Nov. 11, the construction of Nam Ngum 3 Hydropower Plant project by the Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. officially began.

The plant, with generation installation of 480 MW, is deemed to be the largest hydropower project invested in by state corporation Electricite du Laos.

Later, on Nov. 14, construction of the Laos Houay Lamphan Gnai Hydropower project by China Gezhouba Group Co. Ltd. had also started.

On Nov. 28, the Nam Khan 2 Hydropower project constructed by the Sinohydro Bureau 10 Co., Ltd. under the Power Construction Corporation of China officially started electricity generation. On Nov. 29, Nam Ou hydropower plant constructed by PowerChina Resources Ltd. officially began generating electricity, among others.

Also on Nov. 29, construction of the 230KV-northern Laos grid project by China Southern Power Grid was also completed.

According to statistics by the Chinese economic and commercial counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Laos, as of the end of October, China invested some 5.71 billion U.S. dollars in Laos cumulatively.

During the first ten months of 2015, China's Foreign Direct Investment to Laos reached 1.22 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 60.7 percent year-on-year.

Nowadays, Chinese businessmen, engineers, and Chinese enterprises can be seen in almost every part of Laos, engaging in various fields from commodity trading, agriculture, mining, to hydropower, transportation, infrastructure construction, satellite, and railway projects.

China has become the biggest foreign investor and donor in Laos, and the second largest trade partner of the Southeast Asian country.

"Economic cooperation between China and Laos has developed rapidly together with the growth of bilateral ties. Cooperation fields have been expanded, especially in high-tech sectors," Zhao Wenyu, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy to Laos, told Xinhua.

"I believe that after the launching of Laos' first satellite and the construction of the railway connecting China and Laos, the trade and economic cooperation between the two countries will be further enhanced," he said. Endit