Laos’ President Thongloun Sisoulith and China’s President Xi Jinping remotely attend the handover ceremony of the high-speed rail project linking the Chinese southwestern city of Kunming with Vientiane
The handing over ceremeony took palce in Vientiane, Laos, on December 3, 2021 according to Reuters
In a video meeting between the two leaders earlier on Friday, Xi said the countries stood at “a new historical starting point”.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith attended a virtual ceremony to mark the maiden voyages on the line, which stretches from the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming to the Laotian capital Vientiane.
A $6 billion high-speed rail line connecting China with its Southeast Asian neighbour Laos opened on Friday, a milestone in Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road infrastructure plans.
China, which holds a 70% stake in the joint venture project signed in 2015, hopes the 1,000-km (621.37-mile) line will eventually expand through Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore.
“China is willing to strengthen strategic communication with Laos, promote the high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative, and continue to build an unbreakable China-Laos community with a shared future,” he said in comments published by China’s state broadcaster CCTV.
Economists have warned that the rail project could make it difficult for communist Laos, one of Asia’s poorest nations, to repay external debt, much of it owed to China.
However Laos state news agency KPL said on Thursday the project was part of the government’s strategy to convert Laos “from a landlocked country to a land-linked one”.
Transit trade will remain the largest share of freight rail traffic. The total transit trade by rail between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would account for more than half of the region’s railway traffic and reach 3.9 million tonnes of freight by 2030, according to a World Bank report.
Based on existing land transport trends, it is estimated that the transit trade through Laos will grow from 2 million tonnes in 2016 to 3.4 million tonnes in 2030, and that land-based bilateral trade between China and Laos is expected to grow from 1.2 million tonnes in 2016 to 1.7 million tonnes in 2030, said the report.
