On October 20, 2023, General Secretary Xi Jinping met with Thongloun Sisoulith, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and President of the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPRP), who came to China to attend the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRFIC) and pay a working visit to China. positive demonstration and leading role. On the same day, China and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party signed the Action Plan of the Communist Party of China and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party on Building a Community of Destiny between China and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party (2024-2028) to promote the construction of a community of destiny between China and the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, which will make steady progress. The Vientiane Sai Serta Comprehensive Development Zone, invested and constructed by Yunnan Construction Investment, is once again included in the plan: "We should operate key projects such as the Sai Serta Comprehensive Development Zone and carry out cross-border industrial cooperation in a practical manner."

▲Vientiane Seseta Comprehensive Development Zone

Subsequently, the Ministry of Planning and Investment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the List of Priority Projects and Tasks for the Joint Construction of the Belt and Road Program, and the Vientiane Sai Serta Comprehensive Development Zone (Phase II) was included in the List of Priority Projects and Tasks for the Joint Construction of the Belt and Road Program.

As China's only state-level overseas economic and trade cooperation zone in Laos, and also a state-level economic zone in Laos, Sai Serta Comprehensive Development Zone has received great attention and support from the governments of China and Laos. After more than 10 years of development, the zone has become a demonstration zone for industrialization in Laos, a carrier zone for international production capacity cooperation, a pilot demonstration zone for the construction of a community of destiny between China and Laos and a low-carbon demonstration zone for "South-South cooperation", and it has made every effort to build China's flagship overseas ETCCZ.

The political effect is becoming more and more prominent as a pioneer demonstration area for building a community of destiny between China and the Lao People's Democratic Republic.

"The construction of Vientiane's Sai Serta Comprehensive Development Zone is making good progress." General Secretary Xi Jinping wrote in a signed article published in November 2017 during his visit to Laos. As a cooperation project jointly determined by the governments of China and Laos, the Sai Serta Development Zone has been written into the Sino-Lao Joint Declaration, the Sino-Lao Joint Communiqué, the Sino-Lao Action Plan for the Community of Destiny, the Joint Declaration on Further Deepening the Construction of the Sino-Lao Community of Destiny and other bilateral cooperation documents signed by the leaders of the two parties and countries, and has received the high attention and strong support of the governments of the two countries, and the political effect is becoming more and more prominent.

▲Vientiane Seseta Comprehensive Development Zone

In March 2019, then Lao President Benjan Vorachit said during his visit to the Seseta Development Zone that many enterprises investing in Laos were interested in moving into the development zone and hoped that the development zone would be turned into a green, sustainable, and prosperous development zone.2023 In June 2023, Laos Prime Minister Somsak Siphandoun promoted the Seseta Development Zone to investors such as BYD and praised the development zone's maturity in supporting development and its infrastructure as being well developed, and that it is one of the most suitable development zones for business investment. In March 2023, Wang Ning, Secretary of Yunnan Provincial Party Committee, came to Sai Serta Development Zone for investigation, pointing out that the development zone has done a lot of work in the early stage, and has shown a thriving scene with a promising future. The Chinese Embassy in Laos has always given strong support to the development zone, the first enterprise in the development zone - New Hope Laos Co., Ltd. was successfully settled in the development zone with the help of the Embassy, so that the development zone's investment has realized a zero breakthrough.

▲Night view of the Saisetta Development Area

Dozens of mainstream media at home and abroad, such as People's Daily, CCTV, People's Daily, Xinhua News, China News, Laos Television, etc., have repeatedly publicized and reported on the development zone. In the report, People's Daily pointed out that the Sai Serta Comprehensive Development Zone has played an important role in promoting the industrialization process of Laos and upgrading the level of economic and trade cooperation between China and Laos by creating a demonstration base for promoting the industrialization of Laos. Yunnan Provincial Friendship Delegation, Economic and Trade Delegation of the Provincial Department of Commerce, as well as persons in charge of major economic and trade cooperation zones and industrial parks visited the Development Zone, and all of them fully affirmed the development achievements of the Development Zone. Leaders of major financial institutions such as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Development Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Export-Import Bank and so on visited the Development Zone and fully affirmed the achievements made by the Development Zone, saying that they will continue to care about and support Chinese enterprises in Lao PDR, and join hands to make Sai Sai Sai Towers Development Zone a model for the cooperation between Lao PDR and China.

The construction and development of the development zone is a pragmatic initiative to deeply implement the action plan of China-Laos Community of Destiny, accelerate the pace of participation in the regional cooperation of the Lancang Mekong, promote South-South cooperation and integrate into the pattern of double-cycle development, which demonstrates China's international influence as a large developing country.

The industrial base has taken shape to become a demonstration zone for industrialization in Laos and a carrier area for international capacity cooperation.

The factory of Baidu Garment (Laos) Co., Ltd. is located in the development zone, covering an area of more than 20,000 square meters. Entering the factory workshop, on one production line, local employees are rushing to make garments for export to Europe. Committed to building a first-class garment factory in Laos, Baidu Garment Laos factory is headquartered in Jiangsu Baidu Garment Group of China, which came to Laos in 2011 and invested in the development zone to set up a factory with 40 production lines, employing 2,000 employees and with a designed annual production capacity of 20 million sets of various types of knitted garments, which are sold to Europe, America and the Japanese market.

▲Bede Clothing Factory

The development zone covers an area of 11.5 square kilometers, which is the core area of Vientiane's new urban area. At present, the first phase of infrastructure investment and construction has been completed, with the most favorable infrastructure and service support conditions in Laos, providing a good platform for enterprises to invest and develop their business in Laos.

The development zone has been granted a number of preferential policies on land, taxes, etc., and all enterprises that have moved into the zone can enjoy these "super value" treatments. Laos is a Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary in 42 countries and regions worldwide, and enjoys the highest level of preferential treatment in the European Union (EBA), i.e., tariff-free and quota-free access to the EU market for all Lao goods. In terms of tax policies, in October 2018, approved by the Prime Minister of Laos, industrial enterprises in the Sai Serta Development Zone implement the preferential policies stipulated in Decree No. 177 of 2003 of the Lao Government, making it the development zone with the most favorable policies in Laos. In addition, the development zone has made efforts to strengthen the security management of the zone and ensure the safety of the lives and properties of enterprises and personnel in the zone, and the development zone has been awarded the Outstanding Overseas Project of "Safe Development and Shared Prosperity" organized by the Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China at the Lianyungang Forum for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2022.

▲Seseta Comprehensive Development Zone gate

The development zone provides the most convenient management services for enterprises in the park. The management committee and enterprises work together, and there is a "one-stop" service office, which provides investors with 15 administrative services such as investment application, company registration, project approval, labor approval, construction permit and so on within the promised time. We can assist in the processing of business licenses, land use rights certificates, environmental assessment certificates, import and export applications, certificates of origin, trademarks, patents and more than 10 other documents. Applying for documents in the development zone can significantly shorten the processing time for enterprises, improve work efficiency and save enterprise costs.

▲China Resources Photovoltaic Technology (Laos) Wholly Owned Company Ltd.

Development Zone to make full use of a variety of preferential policies and "one-stop" convenient services, comprehensively enhance the effectiveness of industrial investment, involving the manufacture of electronic products, new energy, biomedicine, agricultural products processing, textile processing and other fields, attracted from China, Japan and other nine countries and regions of the 136 enterprises, of which 70 have been completed and put into operation. The development zone has created a number of firsts in Laos. The development zone has created a number of firsts in Laos: the largest enterprise in Laos - Lao-China Railway Company Limited; the first solar photovoltaic production project in Laos - Zhongrun Photovoltaic Science and Technology (Laos) Limited wholly-owned high-efficiency battery project; the largest modern manufacturing enterprise in Laos with the largest number of workers. Ltd., the modern manufacturing enterprise with the largest number of workers in Laos, and the first national engineering quality inspection and testing institution in Laos, the Lao Engineering Quality Inspection and Testing Center (Company). These enterprises have effectively filled the gaps in a number of industries in Laos, strongly promoting the industrial upgrading of Laos and accelerating the process of industrialization.

▲Campus plant and dormitory buildings

At present, the total investment of the settled enterprises has exceeded 2 billion US dollars, and the annual output value has exceeded 1.8 billion US dollars, which provides an important platform for Chinese enterprises to participate in the construction of China-Laos community of destiny in a comprehensive way. The development zone has provided more than 7,000 jobs for the Laos locally, and it is expected that the number of employed people will break through 15,000 in 2024, which will be 2 per thousand of Laos's population, and it will make important contributions to the well-being of Laos's people and the promotion of China-Laos people-to-people exchanges. It will make an important contribution to enhancing the well-being of the Lao people and promoting Sino-Lao people-to-people communication.

The integration of industry and city has begun to show results in becoming a "South-South" low-carbon demonstration area.

At night, Vientiane Sai Serta Comprehensive Development Zone is as bright as day, with 2,000 solar-powered street lamps, which are tall and beautiful, lighting up the spacious and clean asphalt and asphalt roads in the zone. On both sides of the road, tropical plants are lush and green, flowers bloom in season, and the fragrance of flowers fills the air with the evening breeze. People in groups of three, two or two, under the street lamps or leisurely walk, or happy riding, or running exercise ...... From time to time, a new energy bus from the main road of the park, carrying people working in the park to Vientiane City in all directions. This light makes the Sai Sai Sai pagoda shine at night and illuminates people's happy smiling faces.

▲Park staff running on park roads

The development zone adheres to the development concept of "promoting the city with production, bringing production to the city, and integrating the city with production", and is committed to integrating and constructing a new Vientiane city that is "green, ecological, tranquil and modern". In July 2020, the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Laos on Cooperation in the Construction of Vientiane Sai Serta Low Carbon Demonstration Zone was officially signed, and the development zone became a "South-South Cooperation" low-carbon demonstration zone. 2022, the Vientiane Sai Serta Low Carbon Demonstration Zone was successfully inaugurated. Environmental protection and low-carbon equipment such as new energy vehicles were put into use in the development zone, effectively upgrading the level of green infrastructure construction. Through the combination of "materials + technology", Sai Serta Low Carbon Demonstration Zone promotes the "four low-carbonization" of the zone's energy, infrastructure, industry and management, helping Laos to improve its ability to cope with climate change and becoming a model of bilateral cooperation in dealing with climate change.2023 In March, the Yunnan Provincial Department of Commerce-assisted Sai Serta Development Zone garbage transfer station project was inaugurated and put into use, providing convenient garbage transportation and transfer services for the development zone.

▲Use of solar street lights in the park

The Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Laos, Mr. Benkham Vorachit, said that the implementation of the Sai Serta Low Carbon Demonstration Zone project will play an important role in the country's efforts to achieve the goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and will vigorously contribute to the country's economic and social development in a green and sustainable manner. At the same time, Sai Serta Low Carbon Demonstration Zone will provide a useful reference for industrial parks along the "Belt and Road" to realize low carbon development, and add new colors of low carbon and mutual benefit to the building of China-Laos community of destiny.

▲Actual view of the Seseta Comprehensive Development Zone

In the future, HIC will further integrate into the action plan of China-Laos Community of Destiny, seize the historical opportunity of building the radiation center in Yunnan Province, take the overseas park as the carrier, take the port economy as the support, and realize the linkage and synergistic development of the overseas ETZs and the construction of the ports and the port industrial parks. Sai Saita Comprehensive Development Zone will become the flagship park of China's overseas economic and trade cooperation zones, contributing to the new development of higher quality and higher level to meet the construction of "One Belt, One Road" and the opening up of Yunnan to the outside world at a high level.