An economic and trade delegation from Hunan Province visited Laos from November 21 to 24. The aim was to thoroughly apply President Xi Jinping's important instructions on deepening the building of a China-Laos community with a shared future, to advance the implementation of a 2024-2028 action plan on building the China-Laos community, and to implement the fruitful results of Hunan Deputy Secretary Mao Weiming's visit to Laos. The efforts will help develop Hunan into a hub for cooperation with Laos.

Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and governor of Hunan, led a delegation to visit Laos in September of this year.

During their visit, the delegation hosted the 2nd Hunan Equipment and Manufacturing ASEAN (Laos) Investment Expo in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Appointed by the Hunan Provincial Government, the delegation participated in the opening ceremony of the 2023 That Luang Festival as well as the opening of a trade fair.  The delegation also visited the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos and the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of China in Laos, and called on enterprises and chambers of commerce in Laos.

The expo had distinctive themes and achieved remarkable results. Matching the demands of the Laotian market with Hunan's competitive industries, a total of seven exhibition areas were set up, involving agriculture, advanced manufacturing, trade logistics, Huaihua products, consumer goods, new energy equipment manufacturing, and outdoor construction machinery. A series of activities were held, including the opening ceremony of the expo, a special promotion conference on Huaihua City, an enterprise-government exchange meeting on cooperation in the industries of cassava, energy, and mining between Laos and Huaihua, as well as economic and trade matchmaking meetings among various enterprises. More than 500 enterprises from Hunan and Laos participated and signed a number of cooperation agreements on the spot, with a contract amount of 610 million yuan.

The delegation also had in-depth exchanges with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos on strengthening agricultural cooperation and accelerating the construction of the "one railway and two industrial parks" project.  They also gathered advice at the Economic and Commercial Office of the Embassy of China in Laos on deepening economic and trade cooperation between Hunan and Laos. The delegation visited the Xuanye (Laos) Co., Ltd. and Hunan Chamber of Commerce in Laos, and inspected the Nahai substation project and Zoomlion's agricultural machinery flagship store in Vientiane.

In 2022, Hunan's total import and export volume with Laos reached 1.024 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 218.46%. Hunan has set up a total of 181 overseas investment enterprises in Laos, with a contract value of 880 million USD from the Chinese side. Since January 2022, 81 frieight trains have been operated from Huaihua to Laos, with Hunan ranking first in central China, with goods valued at about 1.069 billion yuan. The "one railway and two industrial parks" project signed by the Hunan Provincial People's Government and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos was selected as a practical cooperation deliverable of the 3rd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Thanks to the opening of the China-Laos Railway, Hunan is becoming a hub for cooperation with Laos through the following efforts by the province:
-further seizing the major historical opportunity of pursuing high-quality Belt and Road cooperation;
- fully implementing the 2024-2028 action plan;
- giving full play to Hunan's advantages to meet Laos' demands;
- improving economic and trade cooperation mechanisms;
- building a platform for cooperation and exchange;
- continuing to optimize the business environment;
- continuously innovating investment and financing models;
- accelerating the construction of a modern agricultural industrial park in Vientiane; and,
- promoting the interaction of trade, industries and market between Hunan and Laos.

This article is from Hunan Provincial Government. www.enghunan.gov.cn.

Translator: Xiao Juan

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn