ASTANA – Lao President and General Secretary of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Thongloun Sisoulith is visiting Kazakhstan on Sept. 3-4. This marks the first presidential-level visit between the two countries since they established diplomatic relations in 1997.
The SCO Secretary-General Nurlan Yermekbayev and Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane. Photo credit: sectsco.org The visit comes as both countries navigate a changing geopolitical and geoeconomic environment. Trade routes are shifting, energy costs are rising, and competition for access to emerging markets is intensifying.
For Kazakhstan, the visit offers an opportunity to deepen its engagement with Southeast Asia. For Laos, a landlocked country seeking to turn its geographic position into an economic advantage, Kazakhstan could be an important partner. Cooperation could help Laos expand transport connectivity and strengthen links with Central Asia and Europe.
Kazakhstan and Laos established diplomatic relations on Sept. 19, 1997. Despite periodic high-level contacts, bilateral relations have largely developed through diplomatic channels, international organizations and government-level exchanges rather than presidential visits.
That is set to change with Sisoulith’s visit to Astana. Preparations for the high-level contact intensified in May, when Kazakhstan’s Ambassador to Vietnam, concurrently accredited to Laos, Kanat Tumysh, visited Vientiane. Tumysh met with Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane to discuss bilateral relations.
The sides placed particular emphasis on organizing and substantively preparing for upcoming high-level contacts. The visit could therefore serve as an attempt to move Kazakhstan-Laos relations beyond diplomatic goodwill toward more practical cooperation in trade, transport, and investment.
According to the TradeReport Telegram channel, Laos is a small Southeast Asian economy with a GDP of around $18.3 billion. Its economy grew by around 4.8% in 2025, driven largely by tourism, transport, electricity exports and manufacturing. The country is rich in hydropower and mineral resources but remains vulnerable because of high public debt and its exposure to external economic conditions.
The economic relationship remains modest compared with the potential suggested by the two countries’ geographic and regional positions. In January-June 2026, Kazakhstan imported just $428,000 worth of goods from Laos, down from $472,000 a year earlier. Annual imports have never exceeded $1.4 million since records began.
According to UN Comtrade data, Kazakhstan’s exports to Laos totaled around $46,220 in 2024. That stands in sharp contrast to Kazakhstan’s overall foreign trade, which totaled $141.4 billion in 2024, including $81.6 billion in exports and $59.8 billion in imports, according to Kazakhstan’s Bureau of National Statistics.