Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism to boost China-Laos economic cooperation

The Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) mechanism will bring fresh opportunities to China-Laos economic cooperation and boost the Belt and Road Initiative, said a leading entrepreneur here.

The Mekong River originates in China and runs through all the five countries on the Indo-China Peninsula, namely Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Its Chinese stretch is known as Lancang.

The LMC mechanism proposed by China will help coordinate the development between China and the five countries, promote China-ASEAN cooperation and boost the integrated and balanced development of the ASEAN, Yao Bin, permanent vice chairman of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Laos and chairman of Kritaphong Group Co., Ltd., said in an interview with Xinhua.

Yao said that as the least developed country and the only landlocked nation on the Indo-China Peninsula, Laos' socioeconomic development, especially that in transportation infrastructure, telecommunications, resource exploitation, goods and energy transportation, needs to be upgraded badly.

Thus, Yao said, Laos has great potential for cooperation with China as well as other Mekong countries, and looks forward to having Chinese investment and cooperation.

Thanks to the burgeoning China-Laos economic and trade ties, Yao has established partnership with some Chinese companies and set up joint ventures to do business in fields like real estates, construction, agriculture, hotels and tourism, finance and consulting services.

He believes that the materialization and progress of the LMC mechanism and some major projects like the Laos-China railway will create better opportunities for the China-Laos economic and trade relations.

He hoped that with the expansion of the LMC mechanism in Laos, more ordinary Laotians will benefit from China-Laos economic cooperation.

"China and Laos are traditional good neighbors linked by mountains and rivers and sharing similar cultures and customs," said Yao. "Laos is a stable society hospitable to Chinese investors. Laos has every positive factor it needs to set a good example for the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation."