Leading Lao and Thai businesses signed a deal on Tuesday to jointly upgrade the logistics and transport system to provide cost-effective services via railways and modern logistics facilities

Executives of the Vientiane Logistics Park Co Ltd (VLP Co Ltd) and its Thai partners – PTT Public Company Limited and Nathalin Group – virtually inked the Strategic Cooperation Framework Agreement online.
Addressing the signing ceremony, Viengkhone Sitthixay, the Vice President of VLP Co Ltd, which is the developer of Thanaleng Dry Port, said the three parties have recognised the effectiveness and efficiency of rail transport as it offers cost-effective solutions.
“Rail transport could reduce cost…We aim to facilitate rail transport services by cutting service procedures on the Thai side and at our dry port to facilitate cross-border trade,” he told the participants.
Mr Viengkhone said his company has been searching for world-class qualified and experienced partners to jointly upgrade the transport system and deliver standardised services to meet the growing need of Laos and Thailand and the region as a whole.
“Thanks for the cooperation opportunity. I hope our three parties will jointly develop and advance the rail transport system and its related services,” he said.
Through the Laos-China Railway and Laos-Thailand Railway, which both link up with Laos’ first integrated dry port, the transport infrastructure serves as an important gateway between Southeast Asia and China and beyond.
The Laos-China Railway – part of the planned regional rail network to link China’s Kunming to Singapore via Laos, Thailand and Malaysia – connects to the China-Europe rail line that can reach European markets and provide cost-effective transport.

The Senior Executive Vice President of PTT Public Company Limited, Mr Chansak Chuenchom, said the two Thai companies are glad to have cooperated with their Lao partner.
He underlined the need for joint efforts to improve the logistics and transport system to facilitate trade between countries in the region and Laos, which borders the key economies of China, Thailand and Vietnam, and serves as a transit hub.
“I believe that all the three countries are pleased that Laos should be a transit centre for freight,” he said.
“Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and China must help each other to make products of our region competitive against [products of] other regions.”
The Senior Executive Vice President of the national oil and gas conglomerate of Thailand said his company has engaged in the transport business as the sector is critically important for economic development.
The Vientiane Logistics Park and its Thanaleng Dry Port, open for services since December last year, is located near the first Laos-Thailand Mekong Friendship Bridge. It has facilitated cross-border and transit services for countries in the regions. The counties using its services include Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and China. In the first nine months of this year, as many as 41,000 containers (import, export and transit) passed through the multimodal dry port.
The online signing ceremony on Tuesday was witnessed by the Lao Ambassador to Thailand, Khamphan Anlavan, the Charge’d Affairs of Royal Thai Embassy to Laos, Ms Jirusaya Birananda, Chairman of the Vientiane Logistics Park Co., Ltd., Chanthone Sitthixay, Chairman of Nathalin Group Suraphon Meesathien and relevant officials of both sides.