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Moscow Tops Up Vientiane's Tank
Russian Deputy PM Alexander Novak told Izvestia on May 9 that Moscow is preparing its first oil product shipment to Laos, days after President Thongloun Sisoulith met with Putin at the Kremlin during Victory Day celebrations. It was Thongloun's second trip to Moscow for the occasion, and the Russian side brought a heavy roster, with Lavrov and Rosatom chief Alexei Likhachev among those at the table. That’s a lot of firepower for a bilateral trade relationship Putin previously called "relatively modest." Trade between the two countries did double last year, but that was from a low base. The fuel angle is the news, as Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka have all been buying Russian oil as the Iran conflict continues to choke Middle East supply, and landlocked, fuel-import-dependent Laos is now on that list. Logistics are still being worked out.
Read more: The Star (Iran supply disruption), Kremlin (Kremlin meeting), Voice of Emirates (Novak announcement)
Beijing Paves the Road to Hanoi
Henan ZhongGong Design and Research Group, a 62-year-old Chinese state-owned firm, will survey a 200ish-kilometer expressway that would connect Vientiane to Laos's northeastern border with Vietnam, with the route designed to eventually chain north to China. The highway would stitch together what planners call a land-linked corridor running from Yunnan through the Mekong to the Vietnamese coast, giving southern China an overland trade artery that would skirt maritime chokepoints at a moment when Beijing's sea lanes are under American scrutiny.
Read more: SCMP
Pre-Paid Storm Insurance
SEADRIF and the UN World Food Program activated a $1.1 million parametric insurance policy on May 1, covering more than 31,000 people through cash transfers connected to Laos's national social protection systems. The trigger is people-based, not damage-modeled. Payouts will kick in when official government data shows at least 200,000 people have been impacted, then scale up from there. The design has been used before, for example, after Tropical Cyclones Wutip and Wipha led to flooding in 2025, a companion sovereign policy delivered $2 million to the Lao government within days.
Read more: Reinsurance News (hazard types covered), Funds for NGOs (people-based trigger), Artemis (official quotes)
Fewer Laotians and Later Weddings
The 2025 National Population and Housing Census puts Laos at 6.74 million people, with yearly growth at 0.8 percent, down from 1.4 percent the previous decade and 2.1 percent the decade before that. The culprits, per the census, are later marriages and an inclination toward smaller families. Working-age Laotians (15 to 64) make up almost two-thirds of the population today, under-15s make up nearly a quarter and those over 65 less than 6 percent. This was the fifth census since the system began, and the first one that used digital data collection.
Read more: The Star
Mechanics Swap Wrenches for Voltmeters
A two-day workshop in Vientiane on May 5-6, run in collaboration with Chiang Mai University, brought together more than 50 mechanics and energy technicians for hands-on training in battery EV maintenance. It was the first program of this kind organized by the National University of Laos. The government has sweetened the deal on EVs with a zero percent import tax, a 3 percent consumption tax, and no quota limits, as it tries to get EVs to make up at least 30 percent of the national fleet by 2030. It’s inspiring work, but the biggest challenge may be in making sure that the grid can keep up.
Read more: Asian News Network (lead instructor), Travel and Tour World
Cebu Breakfast Features a Familiar Menu
Sonexay Siphandone worked overtime at the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu on May 8, holding a Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam trilateral breakfast with Hun Manet and Vietnam's Pham Minh Chinh before staying at the table for a separate talk with Hanoi. The bilateral was the first between the two leaders since they each took office, and they agreed to start getting ready for "Laos-Vietnam Solidarity and Friendship Year 2027," which would celebrate 65 years of diplomatic ties and 50 years since their Treaty of Amity and Cooperation. The talking points were the usual, with transport connectivity, energy, trade, and defense topping the list. Sonexay invited Pham and his wife to Vientiane; Pham invited Sonexay to Hanoi and to the ASEAN Future Forum 2026. Both accepted.
Read more: The Star (invitation exchange), Asian News Network (CLV trilateral)
Six Dead, Distillery in Frame
A UK pre-inquest hearing into the November 2024 Vang Vieng tourist methanol poisonings has cleared Nana Backpacker Hostel staff of contaminating the drinks, with Australian Federal Police telling South London Coroners' Court there is "no evidence" of their involvement. Investigators are now eyeing the distillery that supplied the alcohol. Six people died after drinks served at the hostel, including a traveler from Kent, two Australian teenagers, an American, and two Danes.
Read more: MSN
Vientiane Promises Quicker Chops
Laos set up a new committee to fix its investment approval bottleneck, and it’s finally held its first meeting. The Investment Promotion and Management Committee met at the Prime Minister's Office on May 8, chaired by Standing Deputy PM Saleumxay Kommasith, following PM Decision No. 30 that came out on April 20. Saleumxay reiterated the need for an integrated investment database that brings together data into a unified platform for use by both the ministries and provincial administrators. He said that provincial officials needed to be more active in monitoring approved projects. The amount of time that approvals currently require went unmentioned.
Read more: The Star
Vientiane's Dance Card Fills Up
Japan's Parliamentary Vice-Foreign Minister Shimada Tomoaki stopped by the Lao Embassy in Tokyo on May 11 to keep the Complete Strategic Partnership warm, while in Minsk the same day, Belarusian FM Maxim Ryzhenkov was confirming readiness to host President Thongloun Sisoulith for an official visit at Lukashenko's invitation. Ryzhenkov's counterpart in the room was Deputy FM Maithong Thammavongsa, who was there for inter-ministerial consultations.
Read more: Japan MOFA (Shimada visit), Belarus Today (Thongsavanh invite)
That's all for this week, thanks for reading. Your voice matters to us. Feel we're missing something? Have additional sources to suggest? Don't hold back- hit reply and tell us what you think.
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