Richest in terms of at least per capita GDP and if the country can play their cards right.  What do y'all think?

Let’s go over the facts/concerns and answers:

Because of Laos is geographically situated in the center of ASEAN nations, Laos is the most optimal location to set up manufacturing centers.   In Laos, manufacturing centers can be created in three metropolitan areas: Vientiane (central), Luang Prabang (north) and Savannakhet (south).  This of course, major trade routes are established through these 3 cities.

(1)What can Laos manufacture? 

The answer is what does ASEAN nations and people needed to have to enjoy better life?  Products: Houses and house sub-products, technologies in health industries, automobiles, motorbikes, computers and so on….

(2)What materials are needed to make these products?
 
Laos is rich in natural resources: Aluminum, Silver, Copper, Iron, Gold, Nickel, highly important and most valuable Rare Earth Metals and rubbers.  Products that people around the world use, touch and feel everyday are made from these materials.  Yes, Laos has all materials that can be extracted, refined, assembled, exported and sold to ASEAN people. 

(3)Does Laos know how to manufacture these products?
(Knowledge/Enough workforce/Technology needed)? 

Maybe and if not, Laos can purchase/invest in proper technologies to make the products.  Workforce of Laos is relatively young and hard working.  In addition, these young Lao citizens are highly motivated and eager to make ASEAN lives better. :laugh3

(4)Laos is considered to be the poorest nation in this part of the world due to the fact that Laos is entirely land-locked.   This is a major problem or concern when you think about exporting/importing products to the world.  With that being said, do you think Laos is the right location for manufacturing products?

Very true that Laos is disadvantagely situated, meaning Laos does not have direct access to sea to import/export products globally.  Laos is a land-linked to folks in Thailand (70 million), Cambodia (15 million), Vietnam (90 million) and southern China (at least 100 million).  Seven million Lao men and women visualize this as a blessing to take materials from our back and front yards and turn them into products that can be used for roughly 300 million or more neighbors to the north, south, east and west. 

(5)Laos can be the ‘battery’ of ASEAN people.   Is that a fair generalization?

Even before ASEAN, Laos has always been the ‘battery’ of Asian people from this part of the world.   Lao people and culture are influenced by surrounding neighbors. Laos is multi-ethnically diverse and this diversity is directly and indirectly arrived from surrounding neighbors.   In general, Lao folks are very humble, friendly and try to enjoy the fruits of planet Earth just like other folks around the world. 

The post has 5 parts, cut it short, like shorter shorts.

This reminds me the slogan of Nikke. YOU CAN.  ;D ;D ;D

Mining is poisonous,esp,the rare earth. Rubber is poisonous for local biodiversity and rivers. Laos is a small country.  IT CAN. ;D ;D ;D

Too much of anything into your system is bad for you.  Proper planning and practicing moderation will do you fine.

I think Laos is fine, why do we need to dam all the rivers and ruin all the mountains by building factories and mines?

Being rich in international monetary terms isn't the most important thing.

I think it's better to keep your culture alive. Capitalism will just ruin Laos and turn it into another Thailand.

In Thailand even in the most remote villages all the kids are playing facebook on their cellphones and listening to bodyslam and korean pop (maybe except the hill tribe villages)

How about we just try to make people's lives better but preserve things the way they are. Capitalist development will just destroy our country.

If you really loved Laos you wouldn't want that to happen to it.

I wasn't trying to debate you, just stating my observations.

Damned Capitalism, long live socialism!  :clapping_above_head

A Buddhist proverb: Only when the last tree has been cut down and the last fish dies in the polluted rivers will we realize that money cannot be eaten. I wish for the whole world to be poor but to have a loving heart

Having enough is better than having too much.

Be the richest?

Mission Impossible Season 4

;D ;D ;D

Right now it's the 2nd poorest country in SE Asia behind East Timor which is #1, and the 23rd poorest country in the world. I don't think it's going to be the richest anytime soon, and it will probably become even poorer because people keep exploiting the environment.

I'm tellin ya guys. The rest of the world don't want anything to do with Laos as long the communist is in charge. A lot of Laos people that left after the communist took over doesn't want to
Return and invest. I can't really blame them. In the United State if you put money in the bank the federal government insure your money up to $100,000. Now what kind of assurance does the Lao government offer ? There are many
Thing that I can list. But as a investor you have to list
Your pro and con. It all come down to dollar and sense.
Why would I invest and don't get a good return on my money.

It's a bit sad that this Karl Marx guy had to think up an idea that would ruin a lot of nice countries.

China was once a great kingdom that had superior technological advancement and many great things. Now? Ruined because of communists and their development projects polluting the land.

It would sadden me if Laos followed suit, but it looks like that is the way its going because they are basically becoming an economic vassal of China

At that time he was thinking of overthrowing the monarch.
So he needed the backing of the poor and not privilege people.
Throughout history look at all the revolution and tell me that
Those so call great leader didn't promise the poor something ?
In return for their support of course. Communism only good
Good on paper . No good come out of it. The leader of Laos
Don't care for the future of their country. If they did they
Would've done away with communism already . Holy shit man
You had that type of government for 30 yrs now. What have you done to better the life of your fellow citizens ? Screw you commies

Lao should form an alliance with Cambodia and reclaim their empire and ancestral lands. The Lao should also declare war on China and rebuild the Nanchao Empire for the honor and glory of the Tai peoples.

Were you serious? War with China? Bye bye Laos and Cambodia

I'm not proposing that the Lao go to war with China right now. First they need to form an alliance with Cambodia and take back their lands being occupied by the Siamese. This will be a prolonged struggle which will last many decades. But in the end,  the restoration of the lands of Lan Xang under the auspices, benevolence, and good will of the Lao PDR will justify the sacrifice.

OK I understand Laos recapturing Isan because that area is still majority ethnic Lao people and they speak Lao, although it is integrating more and more Thai vocabulary with the passage of time. Isan is all Lao except for some small pockets of Thais in the urban areas, and the provinces of Srisaket, Surin, and Buriram which belong to Cambodia.

Nanzhao was a multi-ethnic kingdom which was comrpised of many ethnic groups. It was not just Tai-Kradai speaking people. There were also many Tibeto-Burman Lolo groups, Austroasiatics, and many of the ethnic groups of that time were undocumented. The first recorded presence of Tai-Kradai peoples (Siamese, Lao, Shan, Tai Dam, Tai Daeng) in Southeast Asia is in modern day Dien Bien Phu Vietnam, being the legend of Khun Borom. All of the Tai Kradai languages are incredibly similar and mutually intelligible to some degree, unlike the Austroasiatic languages. I can speak, read and write Thai and Lao and I can understand a bit of the Shan language of Shan state Burma. I can also understand bits and pieces of the Tai Dam language.

Now this being said, before the Tai Kradai people moved into Southeast Asia, there were already kingdoms there, and other civilizations, notably the Mons, who are now a shell of their former selves. Present day Thailand and Laos was inhabited by Mon-Khmer speaking people, such as the Mons, the Khmus and the Khmers. There were no Thais or Laos, so do you suggest the Khmus, Khmers, and Mons all team up and attempt to wipe out the Thais? Because technically the Laos and Thais brutalized the Mon, Khmu and Khmer people. The area around Bangkok was the Lawa kingdom which was inhabited by Lawa people, who are believed to be some of the oldest known people in southeast Asia. There were also Malays in that area.

Modern day Sipsongpanna, roughly located in the same general vicinity as Nanzhao, is inhabited by Tai Lue people. The Siamese claim them, but I have listened to Tai Lue speakers, and it is very similar to Lao. Tai Lue is basically a mix of Lanna and Lao with some Chinese loan words. There are also Shan speakers in the Sipsongpanna area. It would make sense to take back Sipsongpanna for Laos, but it's never going to happen.

Sipsongjaotai, or modern day Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam. This is like the holy grail for all Tais. This is where Tai people first entered Southeast Asia, supposedly. Now it has been developed into an urban sh-thole by the greedy Vietnamese and the native Tai Dam people have been reduced to a tribal status, living outside the cities scattered in tribal villages. During the Vietnam War, the Tai Dam, Tai Daeng, and Tai Khao tribes collaborated and were trying to create their own country called สิบสองเจ้าไท but Ho Chi Minh fueled fighting between the tribes and weakened them by disintegrating their unity.

You know the Zhuang people of China? The second largest ethnic group in China only to Han Chinese, even more numerous than Tibetans? They are a Tai speaking ethnic group. Yep, millions and millions of Tais live in China and played a huge part in its history. Thai and Lao people are descended from the Zhuang people of China, who still live there and speak the Zhuang language to this day. The area of modern day Nanzhao would be Yunnan China if I'm correct, which is one of the provinces of China with a large ethnic minority population. If China ever collapsed, this would probably become a Zhuang state.

The wildest novel I ever read. :applause

War, domination, and imperialist hierarchical command aren't the answer, whether it's by Laos/Cambodia, China, Communists, Socialists or Capitalists. 

Taking seriously and promoting the values of the Buddhas and the sage teachings of the various Sutras, the Tao te Ching, etc. among all the people, both leaders and commoners, is the only long term solution and the only way Lao, Thai, Khmer, Hmong, and all the rest can live in peace. 

And it can be done at the same time as you increase technical advancement and standards of living, if you're careful.

But I'm just being an idealist and nobody every listens to impractical ideals.  So go ahead with your revolutions & stuff.  I'll just go back to listening to John Lennon's "Imagine" and finish the blog essay I was writing on why it won't work.

I don't agree with war either and anyways both Laos and Cambodia know that they will never stand a chance against China, even if united. Laos and Cambodia aren't allies now and were not allies historically.

To make my post short, TexasCowboy, Nanzhao was a multi-ethnic kingdom and no one knows who the rulers were, so to call it a Tai state would be a fallacy.

As Nanzhao sounds like chinese pronouciation. the followings are what I found.

Nan Zhao Dynasty or just Nan Zao Kingdom (from 738 to 902），founded in Yunnan-Gui Zhou Plateau, dominant people were Bai, Dai ( Tai Lue ) Ni Shu, and Wa.

you can google Da Li China. you will find the capital of Nan Zhao Kindom


Buk Nut wrote on 25^th Jun, 2014 at 12:54pm:

I don't agree with war either and anyways both Laos and Cambodia know that they will never stand a chance against China, even if united. Laos and Cambodia aren't allies now and were not allies historically. To make my post short, TexasCowboy, Nanzhao was a multi-ethnic kingdom and no one knows who the rulers were, so to call it a Tai state would be a fallacy.

Yes and the Wa were not Tai peoples. They're related to the Khmer of Cambodia