Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and governor of Hunan Province, met in Changsha with Atsaphangthong Siphandone, deputy party chief of the Vientiane Municipal Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and mayor of Vientiane on the morning of May 28, 2025.

Qu Hai, secretary general of the People's Government of Hunan Province, attended.

Governor Mao meets with Vientiane Mayor Atsaphangthong Siphandone.

Vientiane is the capital of Laos and the country's political, economic, and cultural center. The city covers an area of 3,920 square kilometers, with a population of about one million. In November 2018, Hunan and Vientiane committed to a friendly province-city partnership, and in October 2024, Shaoyang established a friendly city-district partnership with Hadxaifong in Vientiane.

Governor Mao welcomed the guests and briefly introduced the status of Hunan Province. He noted that Hunan and Vientiane are geographically close and culturally connected, with close emotional ties. In recent years, under the leadership of the important consensus reached by the heads of state of China and Laos, the two sides have made frequent high-level mutual visits, with fruitful economic and trade achievements, close communication between friendly cities, active exchanges in party building, and pragmatic training programs.

The Consulate General of Laos in Changsha was the first consular agent set up by a foreign government in Hunan after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Thanks to the opening of the China-Laos Railway, there were 351 freight trains that operated between Huaihua and Vientiane last year, a year-on-year increase of 362%. Shibadong Village, the birthplace of "targeted poverty alleviation," has become a must-visit site for Laotian delegations visiting Hunan. A cumulative total of 29 Vientiane party and government cadres have come here for training.

Governor Mao expected that both sides will highlight the building of a community with a shared future with neighboring countries, with closer interaction among friendly cities, deepening economic and trade collaboration, and strengthening training and communication while comprehensively integrating into the Belt and Road Initiative, to achieve win-win cooperation at a higher level.

The meeting.

Atsaphangthong Siphandone remarked that Hunan is a good partner and comrade for Vientiane. Both sides share a profound cooperative foundation and broad space for complementarity. Vientiane will continue to enhance practical cooperation with Hunan in various fields and strengthen communication and experience sharing, contributing to the China-Laos community with a shared future.

Photos taken by Liu Shangwen.

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

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn