Lao president hopes to build cooperative project with China into prosperous development zone

Bounnhang Vorachith (2nd R), general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and president of Laos, inspects Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone in Vientiane, capital of Laos, March 7, 2019. Bounnhang Vorachith expects to build Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone in capital Vientiane, the state-level cooperative project jointly established with China, into a green, sustainable and prosperous development zone. The Lao president, accompanied by other government officials and Chinese ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong, inspected the Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone on Thursday. (Xinhua/Zhang Jianhua)

VIENTIANE, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Bounnhang Vorachith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and president of Laos, expects to build Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone in capital Vientiane, the state-level cooperative project jointly established with China, into a green, sustainable and prosperous development zone.

The Lao president, accompanied by other government officials and Chinese ambassador to Laos Jiang Zaidong, inspected the Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone on Thursday.

Chen Wenshan, chairman of China Yunnan Construction and Investment Holding Group (YCIH) introduced his company and its investment and construction projects to the Lao president and the inspection team.

After receiving the information about the future development plan of the zone and watching the project's promotional video, President Bounnhang affirmed that the development zone has been keeping a fast pace on investment, construction and promotion. Thus, many enterprises to invest in Laos have shown interest in the development zone.

The Lao president praised the YCIH's important contribution to Laos' economic and social development with its engineering contracting and investment.

"I hope that the YCIH will continue to work hard to contribute to the friendship between the two parties, the two governments and the two peoples, as to set an model for the cooperation between the two countries," said the president.

"I hope the YCIH will cooperate with Vientiane City closely and earnestly to build the Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone into a green, sustainable and prosperous development zone, and to improve the livelihood of the local people."

According to Chen's report, after nearly a decade's efforts, 1 billion U.S. dollars have been invested into the zone's infrastructure construction, and the zone has introduced 57 enterprises to invest over 1 billion U.S. dollars. It is expected that by the end of next year, the total output in the zone will exceed 1.5 billion U.S. dollars, with about 10,000 jobs created.

The Vientiane Saysettha Comprehensive Development Zone, covering an area of 11.5 square km, is jointly developed by the YCIH and the municipal government of Vientiane. It is a state-level cooperative project between China and Laos, also China's only state-level overseas economic and trade cooperation zone in Laos, and is enrolled in the early harvest projects of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China.