Staff writer
Japan will formally agree with Laos next week to launch a comprehensive policy assistance program to help the communist-ruled Southeast Asian country accelerate free-market reforms and put itself on a sound development track, government sources said Monday.
The formal agreement will be made Monday at a meeting in Tokyo between the foreign ministers of the two countries, the sources said. Laotian Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad is to begin a weeklong visit to Japan Sunday on his return home from New York, where he attended the U.N. General Assembly session.