Lao president arrives in Tianjin for SCO summit

General secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president Thongloun Sisoulith arrived in China's Tianjin Municipality on Sunday afternoon to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit 2025, scheduled for Sunday and Monday.

China and Laos are both socialist countries and neighbors connected by mountains and rivers.

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Lao president arrives in Tianjin for SCO summit

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Lao president arrives in Tianjin for SCO summit

China-Laos relations hold a special and important position in China's neighborhood diplomacy, and the two countries have always stayed at the forefront of building a community with a shared future.

After the SCO summit, Thongloun will also attend a grand military parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War on September 3 in Beijing.

China's outstanding aggregate social financing -- the total amount of financing to the real economy -- reached 442.12 trillion yuan (about 63.4 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of 2025, up 8.3 percent year on year, central bank data showed on Thursday.

The country's aggregate social financing stood at 35.6 trillion yuan (about 5.1 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2025, up by 3.34 trillion yuan (about 479 billion U.S. dollars) from the year 2024, said the People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank.

According to the data, the M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.5 percent year on year to 340.29 trillion yuan (about 48.8 trillion U.S. dollars) as of the end of December.

In addition, outstanding yuan loans stood at 271.91 trillion yuan (about 39 trillion U.S. dollars) at the end of 2025, up 6.4 percent year on year.