President Thongloun Sisoulith of Laos, also general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, arrived in Beijing on Tuesday to attend the upcoming events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
This is Thongloun's third visit to China since 2022.
China and Laos are both socialist countries and friendly neighbors.
In December 2021, the two countries launched the China-Laos Railway, a 1,035-km rail line linking Kunming, the capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, with the Lao capital Vientiane. It is a flagship project within the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative.
Lao president arrives in Beijing to attend V-Day commemorations
China's consumer goods industry got off to a good start in 2026, with main indicators registering steady growth in the first two months, according to the data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
The value added of enterprises above the designated size -- whose annual main business income reaches 20 million yuan (about 2.93 million U.S. dollars) or more -- in this sector increased by 4.8 percent year on year in January and February, accounting for 29.2 percent of the total value added, 3.1 percentage points higher than that of last year. Among the 14 major industry categories, 10 achieved positive growth.
In the two months, these enterprises achieved a business revenue of approximately 5.1 trillion yuan, up 4.4 percent year on year, while the total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 8.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.8 percent.
"The first two months were in the traditional peak consumption season, driving the growth of orders and helping to unleash production capacity in the consumer goods industry. Some emerging consumption patterns, such as experience consumption and trendy toy consumption, grew rapidly, and the supply market showed a diversified growth trend," said Dai Xiaoxia, deputy director of the Institute of Consumer Goods Industry Research of China Center for Information Industry Development.
In terms of foreign trade, exporters above the designated size delivered consumer goods worth around 592.54 billion yuan, up 2.2 percent year on year, with the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry, the papermaking and paper products industry registering relatively rapid growth.
China will increase the supply of high-quality products in the consumer goods industry, steadily promoting the intelligent, green and integrated development of the sector.
China's consumer goods industry posts steady growth in first 2 months
