On September 19, 2018, a Lao delegation headed by the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Lao PDR Ms. Pani Yathotu, who took part in the Second Eurasian women's Forum, arrived in St. Petersburg. Also on the delegation, our city was visited by businessmen and entrepreneurs from Laos in order to establish business contacts with partners from among the St. Petersburg enterprises. During the meeting held on September 20 in the first half of the day in the Smolny businessmen demonstrated export opportunities of Laos and expressed a desire to supply to St. Petersburg their agricultural products, primarily coffee and rice. At the same time, the Lao side expressed interest in the supply of strong alcoholic beverages, bee products, as well as gasoline and diesel fuel from Russia.
At the end of the meeting in the Smolny, External Affairs Committee of St. Petersburg organized a visit to the Leningrad bread factory n.a. S. M. Kirov for Lao businessmen, where they got acquainted with the technology of production of different varieties of flour and expressed interest in the supply of finished goods to the market of Laos. Members of the delegation also visited the SUE "St. Petersburg Water-Pumping Enterprise", where they got acquainted with advanced water purification technologies and activities of The Children's environmental center.
In the second half of the day in the Tauride Palace, on the sidelines of the Eurasian Women's Forum, there was a meeting of Mrs. Yathotu and members of the National Assembly of Laos with the Deputy Chairman of the External Affairs Committee Vyacheslav Kalganov. The meeting was also attended by Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Laos in the Russian Federation Civiemme Petrasek. During the meeting were discussed issues of international and interregional cooperation and specific measures to increase trade turnover between St. Petersburg and Laos
The parties agreed to actively support bilateral cooperation and promote the implementation of mutually beneficial projects between St. Petersburg and Laos.