Lao Prime Minister Sisavath Keobounphanh and Japanese government officials attended a ceremony Wednesday to mark the completion of construction of a Japanese-funded bridge over the Mekong River at the southern Lao town of Pakse.
At the ceremony, Japanese Ambassador to Laos Yoshinori Miyamoto formally handed over responsibility for the 1,380-meter reinforced concrete suspension bridge, officially named the Lao-Nippon Bridge, to the Laotian government.
The bridge, which was built with a 5.46 billion yen grant from the Japanese government, is the longest in Laos, 206 meters longer than the Australian-funded Mittaphab (Friendship) Bridge that opened in May 1995 to connect the town of Nong Khai in northeastern Thailand with the outskirts of Vientiane.
The latest bridge is expected to boost trade and tourism among southern Laos, northeast Thailand, southern Vietnam and eastern Cambodia.