China has agreed to provide Laos with 13 million yuan worth of grant aid to support the upcoming summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a source from Laos said on Thursday.  

An agreement of grant assistance was signed on Aug. 25 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Laos between Sayyakan Soulivong, head of the ASEAN Department under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Shen Yueming, assistant to the director general of the Yunnan Corporation for International Technology and Economic Cooperation of China.

The grant aid comprises five vans, five ambulances, 20 police cars and some safety inspection devices.

The grant aid is designed to aid Vientiane in hosting the 10th ASEAN Summit that will be held at the end of this year.

It also aims to strengthen the existing ASEAN-China relations as well as the relations between China and Laos.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

(Xinhua News Agency August 27, 2004)