Ambassador Jiang said in his speech at the Saturday ceremony that Laos receives the first modern train in her history today is decisive progress in the construction of the China-Laos railway, and it is also a landmark achievement of the strategic docking between the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and Laos strategy to convert itself from a landlocked country to a land-linked hub.

"According to the current progress of construction, the Lao side proposed the coming Lao National Day (Dec. 2) as the target node to achieve official opening, and we are encouraged and willing to work with the Lao side to realize it," the Chinese ambassador said.

Jiang said that after the opening of the China-Laos Railway, the journey time from Vientiane to the China-Laos border will be shortened from two days to three hours, and that to Kunming can be just overnight, which means a leapfrog development in the connectivity between China and Laos.