Chinese, Lao leaders mark successful launch of communication satellite

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Lao counterpart, Choummaly Sayasone, sent each other congratulatory messages on Saturday to mark the successful launch of a Lao communication satellite with a Chinese carrier rocket.

The satellite, Lao Sat-1, was launched on Saturday at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Hailing the Lao Sat-1 project as "a significant manifestation of China-Laos comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership under new circumstances", Xi said it ushers in a new paradigm of cooperation between developing countries in the field of astronautics, and will promote economic development, improve the people's livelihood and facilitate social progress in Laos.

Xi said the Chinese side is willing to work with the Lao side to enhance bilateral exchange and cooperation in all fields, promote in an in-depth way the China-Laos comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership based on the high-degree mutual trust, mutual assistance and mutual benefit, and build an unbreakable community of common destiny between the two countries, in the interest of the two countries and the two peoples, and in making positive contributions to regional peace, stability and prosperity, Xi said.

In his congratulatory message, Choummaly said that LaoSat-1 will provide Lao and foreign customers with satellite communication information and technology services, and will definitely make important contribution to economic and social development in Laos.

The production and successful launch of LaoSat-1 would not have been achieved without the support and assistance from the Communist Party of China and the Chinese Government, Choummaly said. LaoSat-1 is a result of Laos-China friendship as well as their pragmatic and mutually beneficial cooperation, and will definitely bring about substantial interests to the peoples of the two countries, Choummaly said.

In 2010, Laos signed an agreement with China Great Wall Industry Corporation on the launch of LaoSat 1. The satellite was launched on a Chinese CZ-3B booster.