Business activities boom after opening of Mekong bridge
Business activities boom after opening of Mekong bridge
The value of two-way trade crossing the fourth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge between Bokeo province in Laos and Thailand's Chiang Rai province has doubled over the past six months compared to the same period last year.
Over the past six months of this year, the value of goods crossing the bridge amounted to about US$50 million, due to the convenience in trade facilitation provided by the fourth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge.
Director of Bokeo Provincial Department of Industry and Commerce Mr Champhone Keokangpheng said trade and tourism-related activities had increased a lot since the bridge opened late last year.
“Trucks carrying goods now cross to Thailand very easily after the bridge opened,” he said, adding that the value of goods exported over the past six months reached US$23.7 million and the goods imported reached US$26.8 million.
Deputy Chief of the immigration checkpoint at the fourth bridge Mr Khamphay Phongthachak told Vientiane Times yesterday that business activities between Thailand and China were very active.
“Meanwhile Laos did not have any main goods to export to Thailand. We only export bananas to China,” he said.
“More than 100 trucks carry goods across the bridge every day, mainly between Thailand and China.
Prior to the opening of the bridge, there were about 20 trucks carrying goods across the Mekong River via the ferries between Thailand, Laos and China.”
Mr Khamphay urged the relevant sectors to work harder in pushing for domestic production so Laos could have goods for export and gain more benefits from the bridge.
The fourth Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge is part of the Greater Mekong Sub-region North-South Economic Corridor International Bridge Project which links Kunming, China to Bangkok, Thailand via the R3 route in Laos.
Since the bridge was officially opened on December 11 last year, a long line of goods trucks have crossed the bridge from the Lao side, which opens at 6am in the early morning and closes at 10pm at night.
Goods crossing the bridge include food items, steel, fuel, fruits and other agriculture products.
As the Asean Economic Community is set to be established in 2015, the Lao government is aware it must gain benefits from regional integration by creating favourable conditions for businesses and tourism-related activities.
Laos and Thailand have built several bridges across the Mekong in a bid to strengthen their cooperative relations since the first Friendship Bridge linking Vientiane to Nong Khai province opened in 1994.
The second Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge, linking Mukdahan with Savannakhet province, opened for use in 2006.
A third Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge, linking Khammuan province in central Laos to Nakhon Phanom province in northeastern Thailand, opened in November 2011.
Meanwhile the bridge across the Mekong between Laos and Myanmar is currently under construction and the government believed that business and tourism related activities will boom in the northern region of Laos.
vientiane times
