ID :
310441
Wed, 12/11/2013 - 08:30
Auther :

Fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge officially opened

BANGKOK, December 11 (TNA) - The Fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge was officially opened on Wednesday morning, creating a cross-border transportation and trade network between Thailand and Laos and even other countries in the region. Thailand's Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and Laos' Vice President Boonyoung Worlajit jointly presided over a ceremony to inaugurate the Fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, after which Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn observed an exhibition on "cross-border friendship" organised on the Fourth Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge in the Thai side by Thailand's Department of Highways and relevant agencies. Also present at the ceremony were Caretaker Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad, who represented Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong, along with distinguished guests, government officials, representatives of the private sector, traders and people of both sides. The three-year-construction bridge, linking Chiang Khong District of Thailand's northern Chiang Rai Province with Huay Xai, the capital of Laos' Bokeo Province, is part of the shortest R3A regional land route under the North-South Corridor Economic Development of the Greater Mekhong Sub-region (GMS) cooperative framework, connecting Thai border areas with those of China through neighbouring Laos. The new 11.6-kilometre-Thai-Lao friendship bridge was jointly developed by the Thai, Lao and Chinese governments, as well as the Manila-based Asian Development Bank (ADB), with its total construction cost of 1.57 billion baht.(TNA)

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