Int'l Shipping Service on Lancang-Mekong River to Begin in JuneA four-nation commercial shipping service on the Lancang-Mekong River will be launched late June, 14 months after China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand signed an agreement on this issue.Transport ministers of the four countries will attend the launching ceremony by then in Jinghong, a city in southwest China' s Yunnan Province, the provincial shipping administration said Tuesday. Under the agreement the four countries inked on April 20 last year in Myanmar's border town of Tachilek, vessels of any signatory nation are entitled to sail freely on a 886.1-km section of the Lancang-Mekong River between Simao of China and Luangprabang of Laos. Along the section, 14 ports will be opened to ships and boats from the four signatory countries, including four in China, six in Laos and two in Myanmar and Thailand respectively. The Lancang-Mekong River, 4,880 km long, originates in China and runs through Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam. International shipping service did not begin on the river until 1990 when China and Laos jointly organized a trial sailing. It is estimated that by the year 2010, ships traveling on the upper reaches of the Mekong, mainly in China and what is called Lancang, will carry 1.5 million tons of cargoes and 400,000 passengers. |
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