Lao officials accompanying President Thongloun Sisoulith on his visit to the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang have expressed hope for more technological cooperation with China and a desire to learn more from the country's development experience.
Thongloun, also general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee, arrived in Zhejiang's provincial capital Hangzhou on Tuesday to begin a five-day state visit to China.
Zhejiang was chosen as the first stop of the Lao President's trip for its reputation as a high-tech and innovation hub and for having achieved high-quality growth across multiple sectors.
After arriving, Thongloun visited several local technology companies, where he explored advanced AI-powered robotic systems designed for industrial, commercial and challenging environments.
He observed the smart logistics and e-commerce systems of tech giant Alibaba, as well as the quadruped robots and embodied AI technologies of Deep Robotics, another Hangzhou-based firm.
The tour reflected Laos' growing interest in AI, cloud computing and robotics.
"It's very amazing, in terms of modern technology nowadays. We are at the beginning of this cooperation because based on the cooperation potential of the two countries, I think we can work together in this area," said Bounleua Phandanouvong, head of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee's Commission for External Relations.
On Wednesday, Thongloun traveled to the nearby Anji County in Huzhou City to examine local green initiatives, including a center promoting sustainable bamboo products and ecological conservation, serving as a vivid example of China's rural revitalization initiatives.
Somphone Sichaleune, the Lao ambassador to China, highlighted the people-centered philosophy which is at the heart of the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s governance approach, and said the Lao officials are keen to learn from China's development experience.
"The CPC is from the people, by the people, and for the people. That is really important. People-centered [philosophy] -- that is very important. So Laos, as we develop our plan to the common goal of socialism, so we learned a lot of very useful, very important examples from China," he said.
Lao officials hope for more tech cooperation, aim to learn from China's development experience
