Xi writes back to Lao village students, wishes them early trip to Beijing

BEIJING -- Writing in reply to a Lao school's letter addressed to him, President Xi Jinping expressed the hope for the Lao village children to take part in enhancing the traditional friendship between China and Laos.

In the reply letter dated Monday, Xi thanked the Lao students and teachers for writing to him, saying he was impressed by their happiness and aspiration for good life and moved by the heartfelt feeling towards the Chinese people demonstrated in their letter.

He wished the children an early trip to Beijing by taking the train on the China-Laos railway, which is under way of construction, as they wished in their letter. Meanwhile, Xi said he hopes that they will study hard to make themselves great contributors to Laos' national development as early as possible, and become successors in promoting the bilateral friendship.

The letter to Xi from the Nongping Primary School, together with an album of student paintings as a present, was taken by the school's representatives to the sub-forum on people-to-people connectivity during the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) held on April 25-27 in Beijing, and was later conveyed to the Chinese president.

The school children and teachers in the letter expressed their gratitude to Xi as the proposer of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) -- a great vision which they said connects the dream of the Lao people to that of the Chinese people, and illustrated in the collection of paintings their own stories related to the Belt and Road.

From their letter, Xi said, he learns that Belt and Road projects have brought many good changes to their school and hometown as well as to their study and daily life.

To achieve common development and to make people's life better in the participating countries of the Belt and Road are what made him to propose the initiative, Xi noted in the reply letter.

Strengthening bilateral cooperation in promoting people's livelihood and that within the BRI framework features in the efforts towards a China-Laos community with a shared future, Xi said, adding that carrying out more cooperation projects can bring tangible benefits to people.

The Nongping Primary School is a demonstration project of China-Laos friendship in recent years, which is funded by the China Foundation for Peace and Development. Xi also said in his letter that he hopes to see more people working like the Chinese foundation to expand cooperation along the Belt and Road to benefit the local people.