Chinese enterprises help lead Lao villagers to happier lives
Chinese enterprises help lead Lao villagers to happier lives
In the dense forests of northern Laos, it is easy to find the vast rubber plantations of China’s Yunnan Rubber Investment Co.. The Sobtuth poppy replacement demonstration plantation zone lies in a valley at Luang Namtha province, some 360 km northwest of the capital of Vientiane.
“Now I have things that two years ago I couldn’t even imagine,” Pheng, a 22-year-old Lao rubber tapper told Xinhua, sitting in a brick house built by Yunnan Rubber Investment Co.
Pheng was born to a poor family in a poor area in the northern Huaphan province. Being the two bread winners of the family, Pheng and his mother had to feed the whole family and cover his younger brother’s school fees. At that time, planting upland rice was the major income source of Pheng’s family.
“In 2015, after learning about the employment news from Sobtuth, my girlfriend and I packed up and left for Luang Namtha. Her parents did not agree at her leaving the village,” Pheng said.
“After coming here to work at the rubber plantation zone, my family can live in a brick house despite the fact that we still have only two bread winners as my mother is old and sick and not able to work. We now have a refrigerator, television, loudspeaker and even two motorcycles,” Pheng said.
“Our living conditions here now are better than my wife’s parents in Huaphan. I plan to return to Huaphan and ask my relatives to come here to work together,” he said.
From taking care of young rubber forests, Pheng can earn some 40 million Lao kip (nearly US$4,900) a year.
“The company builds roads in front of my house, provides water and electricity supply. There is also a school in the zone that is free of charge, while hospital is only 15 km from here. We are very grateful to the company,” Pheng said.
Pheng is grateful to Yunnan Rubber Investment Co. But what Pheng does not know is that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) was behind the success of the Yunnan Rubber Investment Co. in its poppy replacement project.
In 2016, Yunnan Rubber Investment Co. faced a huge challenge when rubber price fell to only 3,500 Lao kip (43 U.S. cents) per kg but the company still paid local farmers 5,000 Lao kip (61 U.S. cents) per kg to ensure their income. The ICBC Vientiane Branch signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the company’s parent group and provided financial support, especially tothe Yunnan Rubber Investment Co.
“We did that not only because of our responsibilities with Lao government and local farmers, but also because we have had a solid financial support behind us,” Chen Cuiying, general manager of Yunnan Rubber Investment Co., told Xinhua.
The ICBC has been taking the Belt and Road Initiative as an important opportunity for future development, and will continue to play a better role in promoting economic and trade cooperation between China and Laos, Lu Jian, general manager of ICBC Vientiane Branch, told Xinhua.
The initiative, comprising the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, targets a modern transnational network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along and beyond the ancient trade routes ,with the aim of promoting common development among all parties involved. The initiative is proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. At the same time, ICBC also provides cross-border equity financing, cross-border merger and acquisition financing, supply chain financing, financial consultancy and risk management services.
Since the beginning of construction of the China-Laos railway, the ICBC has closely followed the development of the project and has become the unit providing bank account services for bidding winners of the project.
ICBC Vientiane Branch considered the development of the Lao power industry a priority in its business expansion. The bank has signed a 2-billion-dollar framework agreement with Lao electricity company.
It can be said that with the participation in establishment of regulations and development of financial markets in Laos, ICBC Vientiane Branch has laid the foundation for its long-term development in Laos.
