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As the Biden administration begins its second year in office, it is evident that its focus on the Indo-Pacific and geopolitical competition against China remains uneven. There are two small but strategically important countries that have been all but ignored by the administration so far: ...

The upcoming Việt Nam visit by Lao Prime Minister Phankham Viphavanh during January 8-10, the first by the Lao leader in his position, will help reinforce the bilateral ties and create motivation for their comprehensive partnership in 2022, Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyễn Bá Hùng has ...

Persons with disabilities and their households in Xieng Khuang and Savannakhet provinces are set to benefit from income generating activities, thanks to support from the Okard project. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Okard Community Based Inclusive Development (CBID) project has provided 520 million ...

In early December 2021, Laos inaugurated the Boten-Vientiane railway, a 414-kilometer (km) electrified high-speed railway that runs between the capital Vientiane and the town of Boten on the Laos-China border. This US$6 billion project (equivalent to one-third of Laos’ GDP) is backed by China as part ...

Work on the fifth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge across the Mekong River, linking Pakxan district in Borikhamxay province to Bueng Kan province in northeastern Thailand, is now 23 per cent complete. The bridge is expected to be fully complete in 2024 and will serve to boost trade ...

Laos, a nation of 7 million people wedged between China, Vietnam and Thailand, is opening a $5.9 billion Chinese-built railway that links China’s poor southwest to foreign markets but piles on potentially risky debt. The line through lush tropical mountains from the Laotian capital, Vientiane, to ...

The men arrived in dark jackets, and the women in fine woven silk skirts. They filed into the gleaming railway station under a red sign that said “Vientiane” in Lao and Chinese. Then they set off. Laotian lawmakers took a test ride on their country’s first ...

Authorities in Champassak province are confident that the Mekong River Integrated Management Project planned for Pakxe city will soon resume now that the Ministry of Finance has submitted a request for an additional loan to complete the first phase of the Landslide Protection Project. Officials in ...

Health officials in Laos have asked the government to encourage farmers to grow other crops as alternatives to growing tobacco. Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Sanong Thongsana, has provided answers to questions by National Assembly members on Friday regarding the amendment of the draft law on ...

Thai power authorities have agreed after a long delay to buy electricity from three hydropower projects in Laos, pushing aside objections from Thai NGOs who say the dams’ operations will harm the ecosystem along the Mekong River. The Nov. 5 decision by the Thai National Energy ...