TOKYO -- Laos is "proud" of its 1,000-kilometer railway completed in 2021 under China's Belt and Road Initiative, said President Thongloun Sisoulith as the nation's first railway sparks hopes of fueling economic development.
The high-speed railway connecting the Laotian capital of Vientiane and China's Kunming in Yunnan province "has contributed immensely to our economy and will certainly provide a very better future for us," Thongloun told Nikkei Asia on Friday in an interview on the sidelines of Nikkei's Future of Asia conference.