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Headlines:
Thai-Lao Relations Ride the Rails
China Plants First AI Flag in ASEAN via Laos Tie-up
Wind Power Reshapes Mekong Energy Trade
Canada Trade Ties as ACAFTA Deadline Looms
Lao Brewery Bets Big on Biomass
Vietnam's Rubber Footprint Set for Expansion
Golden Triangle's Dark Economy Faces Pushback
Amata Breaks Ground on Smart City Dream
Tourism Dreams Face Infrastructure Reality Check
Skills Push Meets Ground Reality Check
UXO Clearance: Small Victories, Long Road Ahead
Open-Source Reality for Digital Ambitions
Border Cuts TCM Supply Chain Friction
Thai-Lao Relations Ride the Rails
Thailand and Laos are celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations with four cooperation agreements, headlined by a technical arrangement for cross-border rail transport building on growing passenger numbers – almost 300,000 in the past seven months – on the Krung Thep Aphiwat-Vientiane route. While both governments want to see $11 billion in bilateral trade for 2027, celebrations were tempered by security talks targeting drug trafficking and call center scams along their shared 1,845-kilometer border. Regional analysts note this latest cooperation comes alongside with mounting public debt – 116% of GDP in 2023 – raising questions about infrastructure sustainability despite Thailand's enthusiastic support.
Read More: Vietnam Plus (bilateral cooperation), Laotian Times (security collaboration), Asia News Network (diplomatic relations)
China Plants First AI Flag in ASEAN via Laos Tie-up
Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Laos have set up the first China-ASEAN artificial intelligence cooperation platform, with a signing ceremony held in Vientiane last weekend. The quick progression from negotiation to implementation suggests both urgent regional appetite for AI development and China's readiness to fill the technological void, though questions remain about long-term implications for digital sovereignty. While Laos stands to gain immediate benefits through better AI capabilities and industry modernization, the partnership serves as a template for China's ambitions to establish similar centers across ASEAN nations. The initiative, wrapped in the rhetoric of "AI for good," sets China up as an architect of ASEAN's digital future, with Guangxi spearheading efforts in cross-border data flows and talent development.
Read More: People's Daily Online (AI Regional Cooperation), Acrofan (AI Collaboration Platform)
Wind Power Reshapes Mekong Energy Trade
Laos continues positioning itself as Southeast Asia's clean energy powerhouse with two wind power projects totaling 1,800MW and $2.9 billion in investments, expected to feed Vietnam's power demands. ACEN's 600MW Monsoon Wind facility should be completed this year, while Chitchareune Construction's 1,200MW Nong Wind project should spark up in 2027.
Read More: The Philippine Star (Laos Wind Project), WindInsider (Regional Energy Cooperation), Việt Nam News(Electricity Import Strategy)
Canada Trade Ties as ACAFTA Deadline Looms
Laos and Canada are working feverishly to finalize the Canada-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement through a workshop in Vientiane, as they press toward the year-end completion target. The stakes are considerable, with ASEAN having a USD 17 billion trade surplus against Canada's USD 26 billion bilateral trade volume in 2022, though Laos' specific share remains modest. While Lao officials are keen to trumpet ACAFTA's potential to boost market access and support SMEs, Canadian diplomats are emphasizing trade diversification benefits, suggesting a mutually advantageous but carefully measured dance between the partners.
Read More: Laotian Times
Lao Brewery Bets Big on Biomass
Lao Brewery Company is making a move towards green energy, partnering with VN Green Energy to launch the country's first biomass energy factory in February 2025, in a move that will cover 80% of its Vientiane brewery's energy needs. The initiative, part of parent company Carlsberg's global sustainability program, will set up LBC to achieve net-zero emissions ahead of schedule while conveniently burnishing its environmental credentials as the largest national taxpayer, having contributed USD 239 million in 2024. Beyond the biomass project, LBC's sustainability portfolio includes a 97% bottle collection rate and a sustainable rice farming program, though there are question about the scalability of such ideas across the company’s broader operations.
Read More: The Star
Vietnam's Rubber Footprint Set for Expansion
Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone's recent overture to Vietnam Rubber Group is a push to increase the Vietnamese firm's already substantial presence, where it currently manages over 26,000 hectares of plantations with $254 million in registered investment. VRG's impressive track record - generating $554 million in revenue while employing almost 5,00 local workers - provides a compelling foundation for its proposed expansion into six sectors, including renewable energy and high-tech agriculture.
Read More: Vietnam Plus (ASEAN cooperation), VOV World (Investment expansion)
Golden Triangle's Dark Economy Faces Pushback
The fight against cyber fraud continues as Taiwan has named five regional nations as high-risk travel destinations. Lao’s Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, a focal point of these operations, saw authorities dismantle nine fraud rings and detain 1,460 suspects from 16 nationalities last year. As regional authorities work on coordinated responses through monitoring and cross-border cooperation, the effectiveness of these efforts is a test against well-established criminal networks operating under the cover of legitimate business zones.
Read More: Laotian Times (Border Scam Escape), The Star (Call Center Crackdown), Laotian Times (Fraud Travel Warning)
Amata Breaks Ground on Smart City Dream
Thai industrial estate giant Amata Corporation has broken ground on its USD 500 million Smart & Eco City project in Lao’s northern Oudomxay Province, another calculated bet on positioning the area as a regional logistics hub. The 31.5-square-kilometer development, granted Special Economic Zone status, sits along the China-Laos railway corridor with planned expressway connections to Thailand and Vietnam, though questions remain about the project's ability to draw high-tech industries to this (thus-far) remote location.
Read More: Markets Insider
Tourism Dreams Face Infrastructure Reality Check
An ambitious tourism strategy targeting 4.3 million international visitors by 2025 is facing infrastructure gaps that threaten to derail this billion-dollar vision. The government's 2026-2030 development plan emphasizes expanding tourism across northern, central, and southern regions, while local businesses report encouraging growth during last year’s Visit Laos Year 2024 campaign. Small business owners and hospitality workers are working diligently to adapt their operations to meet increasing visitor demands, with several saying there remains a critical need for continued infrastructure investment.
Read More: The Star
Skills Push Meets Ground Reality Check
Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone's push for workforce development is getting a reality check, as government claims of lifting 31,232 families from poverty clash with public skepticism about actual progress on the ground. While the Labor Ministry reports training 34,324 people and finding employment for 124,539 people in 2024, social media observers point to continuing economic migration to Thailand and South Korea as evidence of continued domestic challenges. As the timeline for graduating from Least Developed Country status has been adjusted to 2026, the success of these workforce development efforts may be the deciding factor in determining whether the nation can bridge the gap between official optimism and economic reality.
Read More: Xinhua (workforce development), Laotian Times (poverty reduction)
UXO Clearance: Small Victories, Long Road Ahead
A joint Lao-Russian military program has cleared 285 unexploded ordnance items from 157,887 square meters in Houaphanh Province, modest progress in the goal to rid the country of wartime explosives by 2030. The clearance operation represents just a fraction of the estimated 80 million unexploded devices still scattered across what remains the world's most heavily bombed country per capita. Since 2018, the bilateral effort has surveyed 170 hectares and removed more than 2,300 pieces of ordnance, though annual casualties continue at roughly 100 per year. While the progress demonstrates effective cooperation, the pace of clearance suggests that there will be challenges in meeting the 2030 target, with negative consequences for both agricultural expansion and infrastructure development in the region.
Read More: Laotian Times
Open-Source Reality for Digital Ambitions
Minister of Technology and Communications Boviengkham Vongdala announced a new digital initiative targeting everything from telecommunications infrastructure to government services. The government has already developed 37 digital systems and modernized tax collection, while implementing a national cybersecurity framework that suggests a thoughtful approach to digitization of the nation. In a pragmatic turn toward cost-effective solutions, open-source technology is being embraced for digital public infrastructure, with a recent government seminar showing off several successful implementations in ID verification and payment services.
Read More: Biometric Update
Border Cuts TCM Supply Chain Friction
Mengkang Port's first clearance of medicinal herbs from Laos is a welcome improvement to China's traditional medicine supply chain, processing 31 metric tons through an expedited channel that has reduced clearance times by about a third. The improvements in clearance, so far mostly benefiting two Yunnan-based pharmaceutical companies, comes in the wake of the port's November 2024 designation as an authorized entry point for medicinal herbs, creating a new gateway between China and Southeast Asian suppliers. While customs officials are keen to talk up the "green channel" efficiency gains, the real test will be in seeing that these improvements are maintained as trade volumes increase.
Read More: Ecns.cn
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading.
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