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The Simao Port, on the lower reaches of the Lancang River in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has been playing a vital role in forging ties between Southwest China and nations along the Lancang-Mekong River since it was designated as a top-grade open port by the State Council in 1993.
Built in 1990, Simao is China's first international port along the Lancang River, which is called the Mekong River when it enters Laos, and flows through Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and Viet Nam into the South China Sea.
According to customs statistics, the volume of freight transport at the port rose to 12,600 tons in 2002, 8.3 times more than the previous year's figure.
The port opened to foreign ships in April 2001, and has four wharves, which are capable of handling 300,000 tons of cargo and 100,000 passenger arrivals every year.
Since Lancang-Mekong sub-regional economic co-operation was initiated, six shipping companies, with 44 vessels, have registered at the port, shipping tea and non-staple food from China to Thailand and Laos and bringing back fresh fruit and other tropical products to China from the two countries.
He Daming, director of the Asia International River Centre at Yunnan University, said the development of the Lancang-Mekong river not only increases traffic along the river, but also promotes the exchange of personnel, commodities, technology and information between Southwest China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2003)
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