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Headlines:
Monsoon Wind Farm Nears Finish Line
Thai-Lao Energy Pact Cuts Middlemen
Power Bills Jump Even as Inflation Eases
Highways, Bridges, Rail Spur Land-Link Vision
Rail-Sea Link Connects Laos to Penang Port
China-Laos Railway Lifts Farm Exports
East-West Trade Fair Courts Investors
Korean Firms Scout Lao Opportunities
Vietnam-Lao Projects Get Fresh Push
Philippine Alchemy Turns 70 Years of Ties Into Golden Opportunity
Growth Holds but Debt Clouds The Future
Khammuan Touts Projects for Anniversary Year
Work-Based Learning Gets Funding Boost
Cardiac Care Tie-up Extended to 2029
Food Safety Work Aligns With Codex Rules
Online Fraud Wave Sweeps Northern Provinces
Demining Crews Brave War-Era Bombs
Monsoon Wind Farm Nears Finish Line
The US$930 million Monsoon Wind Power Project covering 68,000 ha in Xekong and Attapeu is expected to bring 600 MW to the regional grid by the end of this year. Developer Impact Energy Asia Development, financed by ACEN, has worked for eight years mapping wind speeds and will build 133 turbines up to 140 m tall. Power will run along a 500 kV line to Vietnam Electricity under a 25-year purchase deal, giving Laos an export payday. The plant is a win for diversifying the Lao grid, which still leans on hydropower that fluctuates with seasonal rains.
Read more: The Star
Thai-Lao Energy Pact Cuts Middlemen
Thailand's Deputy PM Pirapan Salirathavibhaga and Lao Deputy PM Saleumxay Kommasith have agreed that EGAT (Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand) will invest in Lao generation projects and buy electricity under direct state-to-state contracts. Skipping private intermediaries is expected to result in cheaper power for Thai consumers and steadier forex earnings for Laos. Discussions are still ongoing about grid upgrades, planning for peak demand and other new clean-energy ventures that fit Thailand's decarbonization plans (dreams?). The pact is an extension of an already hefty 10 GW purchase framework and could be a template for other ASEAN neighbors that want to reduce costs to the end user.
Read more: SolarQuarter
Power Bills Jump Even as Inflation Eases
Household electricity rates will nearly double by 2026 as the kip's slide makes dollar-denominated generation debt harder to service. The rates, fixed through 2029, will kick in at a time that consumption is rising with consumer appliance adoption and a record 21,300 registered companies. Price pressure on power is a burden on housing and utilities, but still, headline inflation has thankfully slipped to 8.3 percent in May from 11.1 percent in April. Authorities have the unenviable task of trying to keep revenue sustainable at state-owned Électricité du Laos while also keeping promises to keep price growth in the single digits this year.
Read more: AsiaNews Network, The Star
Highways, Bridges, Rail Spur Land-Link Vision
A Thai-Lao master plan anticipates the 5th Friendship Bridge at Bueng Kan (Thailand’s newest province)/ Bolikhamxay, a 143 km Route 12 upgrade from Thakhaek to Na Phao and a 10 km track connecting Thai-Lao trains to the Laos-China line. Daily traffic on Route 12 could as much as double to 44,000 vehicles once works finish in 2025, reducing cargo transport times between the coast of Vietnam and Thailand's east. The package will keep Laos as a viable through-corridor for Mekong trade to southern China.
Read more: VietnamPlus, The Star
Rail-Sea Link Connects Laos to Penang Port
Penang Port, Thanaleng Dry Port, MMC Port Holdings and PTL Holding will run a new rail-sea route that threads southern China through Laos and Thailand all the way to Malaysia's west coast. Shared IT systems, joint marketing and unified/ uniform paperwork will greatly reduce transit times and costs, giving Lao exporters a salt-water exit without passing through Vietnam. Bilateral trade already is in excess of US$43 million and stakeholders expect the corridor to allow for larger volumes of minerals, agri-goods and electronics once Pan-Asia Railway plans come together.
Read more: AsiaNews Network
China-Laos Railway Lifts Farm Exports
The cross-border railway carried 172,410 tons of Lao produce in 2025, a 40 percent jump on last years total, allowing for local fruit, cassava, rubber and rice to go deep into Chinese cities like Chongqing and Guangzhou. Faster customs process and reefers get reduce any risk of spoilage and let farmers lock in more favorable prices. Agriculture ministry officials are foreseeing 4.3 percent sector growth by end-of-year, with farming on track to make up more than a fifth of GDP at 22%. The line will reduce over-reliance on road convoys that once snaked arduously through the mountains to Yunnan.
Read more: FreshPlaza
East-West Trade Fair Courts Investors
Sekong province has played host to 47 booths and delegates from 19 Vietnamese provinces, four southern Lao provinces and Thailand's Ubon Ratchathani, pitching a cornucopia of tourism packages, timber processing and light manufacturing. Organisers say the fair is an annual barometer for the East-West Economic Corridor that crosses from Danang to Mawlamyine. Deals discussed include resort clusters near Attapeu waterfall and Vietnamese cold-storage facilities for Lao fruit that’s headed for seaports. Officials talked uo tax breaks and one-stop licensing processes to keep leads alive after the fair.
Read more: VietnamPlus
Korean Firms Scout Lao Opportunities
The ASEAN-Korea Centre brought 20 Korean companies to Vientiane, matching them up with 30 Lao businesses in food, industrial inputs, and infrastructure. Site visits to Vientiane Logistics Park and That Luang Lake SEZ gave Koreans a peek into bonded warehouses and mixed-use plots that are ready for lease. Organisers were happy to report immediate interest in setting up plastics packaging lines and cold-chain projects. The mission builds on a rising trend of Korean aid and tourism flows, and is sure to lead to more private Korean capital on the ground.
Read more: AsiaNews Network
Vietnam-Lao Projects Get Fresh Push
Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh and Lao PM Sonexay Siphandone agreed to fast-track the Hanoi-Vientiane expressway and the Vientiane-Vung Ang railway while keeping border security drills tight. Vinachem briefed Lao Deputy PM Saleumxay on progress at its Khammouane potash mine, with land cleared and gear already on the way. Hanoi said that it would continue to help with policy drafting, digital governance guidance and more scholarship money in support of the US$1.7 billion of Vietnamese investment stock already in Laos.
Read more: VietnamPlus, VietnamPlus
Philippine Alchemy Turns 70 Years of Ties Into Golden Opportunity
President Marcos and PM Siphandone took advantage on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit to agree on new trade, education and security projects in the wake of trade growth of US$13.7 million in 2024. Talks ran the gamut of clean energy, AI, agro-processing and direct flights between Manila and Vientiane. Laos welcomed more Filipino teachers and architects, and Manila has offered defense training to fight the illegal drugs trade and other crime. Both sides agreed to form a working group to turn ideas into contracts by early 2026.
Read more: Selangor Journal, PNA
Growth Holds but Debt Clouds The Future
GDP ballooned 4.1 percent in 2024 on the back of tourism, hydropower and minerals, but researchers are expecting 2025 growth to come in a bit lower at 3.5 percent because public debt is now in excess of 100 percent of GDP and repayments will peak next year. Progress taming inflation helps, but fiscal space for roads, schools and SME credit remains inadequate.
Read more: Laotian Times
Khammuan Touts Projects for Anniversary Year
Khammuan province, sitting at the intersection of National Roads 13 and 12, has pitched US$850 million in agricultural, forestry, energy, and tourism investments at a recent Shanghai roadshow. Asia Potash's mine now has 7,000 people on the job, and new eco-parks at Phou Pha Marn are pulling in an ever-greater number of domestic tourists. Officials have taken stock of 210 sites that might be appropriate for future resorts and promise quicker licensing as Laos celebrates 50 years as a republic and the party's 70th anniversary.
Read more: The Star
Work-Based Learning Gets Funding Boost
A Swiss-funded TVET initiative is rewriting curricula for inventory management, customer service, machine tools and electric-vehicle repair, matching schools with employers and hoping to produce 1,000 skilled trainees by 2027. In Bolikhamxay, a Chinese mining firm has signed a 25-year deal to build a factory staffed by inmates who will earn performance-linked wages. Both projects are a growth in practical skills pipelines in a labour market that is desperately short of technicians, but it will be interesting to watch if the prisoner work program is run ethically.
Read more: The Star, Laotian Times
Cardiac Care Tie-up Extended to 2029
Mahosot Hospital in Vientiane and Kunming's Fuwai Cardiovascular Hospital have agreed to renew their cooperative tie-up that was launched in 2019. Chinese surgeons will continue to train Lao staff and donate equipment, with an emphasis on pediatric heart surgery. Missions that were cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic will start up again next quarter in an attempt to clear backlogs of congenital cases without the need to send patients abroad.
Read more: Laotian Times
Food Safety Work Aligns With Codex Rules
A workshop led by the FAO and the Health Ministry has brought together officials from agriculture, trade and academia to improve compliance with Codex Alimentarius standards. The work will update testing labs, risk-assessment protocols and inter-agency data sharing to support more exports and to go some way to improving products for the woefully underprotected consumers at home.
Read more: AsiaNews Network
Online Fraud Wave Sweeps Northern Provinces
Police in Oudomxay, Phongsaly and Luang Namtha are warning that scammers are hijacking Facebook accounts, cloning profile photos and posting fake bargains to trick civil servants and shop owners into advance payments. Fraudsters have been faking credibility by using bank logos and other insignia in their communications. Victims (and potential victims!) are being told to double-check sender identities and report losses as soon as they can to try and tamp down on the effects of this crime wave.
Read more: Laotian Times
Demining Crews Brave War-Era Bombs
Teams continue to dig out millions of unexploded cluster munitions dropped during the Vietnam War. The work saves lives and reopens farmland, but crews still face fatalities handling rusty ordnance with still active trip-wires. Clearance is important for the continuation of much needed rural development projects that are now rolling out across Xieng Khouang and Savannakhet provinces.
Read more: DW
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading.
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