[Laos Nounces Appointment of Veteran Diplomat with Global Vision as New Prime Minister]
BANGKOK — Laos has a new prime minister after the communist country’s National Assembly elected veteran diplomat Saleumxay Kommasith to the post, state-run media reported Tuesday.
Saleumxay, who turns 58 on Oct. 31, was elected on Monday in the Vientiane assembly by a unanimous vote of 158 lawmakers, according to the state news agency KPL.
He is a member of the Politburo of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and formerly served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister.
Prior to his appointment he held posts in Oceania, managing relations with Australia, the United States, the Americas, and Europe, reflecting extensive experience across multiple regions.
He holds degrees from Russia’s Moscow State Institute of International Relations and Australia’s Monash University.
Koplmasith also served in the Lao Mission to the United Nations in New York and is proficient in English, Russian, and French.
While most members of Laos’s leadership lack an international profile beyond ties with neighbouring communist states, Mr. Kommasith brings a markedly broader global perspective.
In his initial address to the National Assembly, he set out immediate priorities for food security, infrastructure reconstruction, mineral stewardship, large‑scale investment projects, tourism promotion, tax collection, and monetary stability.
-A 2026 country assessment by Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung characterises Laos’s economy as fragile, noting challenges stemming from excess borrowing, debt obligations, thin reserve accounts, and currency depreciation; the report also notes the one‑party system shows little inclination toward multi‑party reform.
Historically, Laos was a pivotal wartime theatre where both royalistic and communist forces clashed and where parts of the Ho Chi Minh Trail supplied combatants.
After the 1975 Pathet Lao victory, Laos maintained strong bonds with Vietnam—its prime minister visits in Thursday—and deepened links with China, leveraging Chinese economic power to expand trade and investment ties.
As a land‑locked nation, Laos depends heavily on neighbours, especially Thailand, for commerce and investment, with hydroelectric power representing the primary export sector.
