China, Laos, and Thai built transnational bridges

China, Thailand and Laos today (June 21) agreed to build a bridge across the Mekong River, connecting directly from Yunnan province to Bangkok by road.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the work will be completed in 2010 by Beijing and Bangkok to co-finance. The bridge crosses the Mekong River between Chiang Khong, northern Thailand and Houaxay, Laos.

This will be the third bridge built under a regional cooperation program with a 15-year term to connect the economies of Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.

"When this important bridge was built, people can travel for the first time by road from Yunnan, China, through Laos to Thailand," ADB vice president Lawrence Greenwood said. "It will open a huge potential for increased trade, tourism and greater integration in the Mekong region," the bank official said in Manila.

The project on the upper bridge will be the final link in the north-south road system through the Mekong region by regional countries and ADB since the creation of the Greater Mekong sub-region initiative in 1992.

The Greater Mekong Subregion Economic Cooperation Program was launched in 1992 with the help of ADB, the organization wants to promote economic growth and reduce regional poverty.

A bridge across the Mekong River (Photo: VNN)

Hoai Linh