Laos sees regional railway as fast track to economic recovery

While its giant neighbours weigh modern theories of globalisation to pull themselves out of the economic mire, little Laos is eyeing a good old railway.

In virtually all their meetings with neighbouring officials, Laotian representatives are battling to ensure the idea of a regional railway is not forgotten in the regional crisis.

Officially, the ASEAN railway project is still afloat and the subject of a Malaysian-funded feasibility study, but many insiders see it as an example of regional fantasy now killed off by recession.

Even before at least three years of construction starts, painful funding and logistical decisions must be hammered out if it is to ever happen.

'You must never forget that we are a landlocked country,' Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad said yesterday.

'We see the creation of a great railway linking the region with China and cutting through as a nothing short of a priority.

'We want to a start as soon as possible.' They see a railway as less culturally intrusive than roads.