Southwest China's Yunnan Province plans to expand trade with Laos in the coming years, said sources from an ongoing working conference between Yunnan and the northern Laos.

Liu Ping, vice governor of Yunnan, said at the conference, which opened here Thursday that customs and business registration procedures will be further simplified to boost bilateral trade.

Agriculture, forestry, tourism will be the key areas of cooperation, in addition to traditional mining, telecommunications and health care, said Liu.

Yunnan has invested in more than 50 projects in the northern part of Laos. Trade between Yunnan and Laos reached US$27.8 million in the first nine months this year, an increase of 19.3 percent over the same period of 2004, according to local customs officials.

Neighboring Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and Laos, Yunnan boasts over 4,000 kilometers of borderline. In recent years, border trade has become an important driving force for the province's economic growth.

(Xinhua News Agency November 17, 2005)