In June 2010, then Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping and Lao Vice President Ben Yang witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Yunnan HIC, China Development Bank (CDB) and the Vientiane Municipal Government on a comprehensive development project in Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

In August 2011, the Lao government issued the decision on the establishment of the capital Vientiane Seseta Comprehensive Development Zone, which formally established the status of the development zone as a national special economic zone in Laos.

In July 2012, China and Laos signed the Agreement between the Government of the people's Republic of China and the Government of the Lao people's Democratic Republic on the Vientiane Saise Comprehensive Development Zone.

In August 2016, China's Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Finance jointly issued a letter of confirmation of the overseas Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, formally confirming the Vientiane Saiseta Comprehensive Development Zone as a national overseas economic and trade cooperation zone. 

In September 2016, the development zone was mentioned in the Laos-China Joint Communique issued by China and Laos.

In October 2018, the Lao Prime Minister's Office confirmed that the industrial sector in the Saiseta development zone implemented the preferential policies of Prime Minister's decree No. 177; other industries implemented the preferential policies of Prime Minister's decree No. 73.

In May 2019, the development zone project was written into the Action Plan of Communist Party of China and the Lao people's Revolutionary Party on building a community with a shared future for China and Laos.

In December 2021, the development zone was rated as a first-tier special economic zone by the Ministry of Planning and Investment of the Lao Government.