老挝国家议会于周一选举资深外交官萨勒姆赛·科马西为新任总理。据官方媒体周二报道，老挝由此迎来了新一任总理。
Laos has a new prime minister after the National Assembly elected veteran diplomat Saleumxay Kommasith. State-run media reported the election on Tuesday.
据老挝国家通讯社KPL报道，现年58岁的萨勒姆赛于10月31日迎来生日。他在首都万象以158名与会议员全票赞成的结果当选。
GRANT PECK 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 Laotian capital Vientiane in a unanimous vote of 158 lawmakers who were present, the state news agency KPL said.
作为执政的老挝人民革命党中央政治局委员，萨勒姆赛此前曾担任副总理兼外交部长。他接替了索内赛·西潘敦的职位，后者则当选为国家议会主席。
He is a member of the Politburo of the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party and had previously served as deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Saleumxay succeeded Sonexay Siphandone, who in turn was elected the National Assembly president.
萨勒姆赛曾就读于俄罗斯莫斯科国立国际关系学院以及澳大利亚莫纳什大学。此后他在外交部担任多个职务，负责处理与澳大利亚、美国、美洲及欧洲国家的关系。他还曾在老挝驻联合国纽约代表团工作，能流利使用英语、俄语和法语。
Saleumxay studied at Russia’s Moscow State Institute of International Relations and Australia’s Monash University before serving in a series of foreign ministry posts overseeing relations with Australia, the United States, the Americas, and Europe. He also served in the Lao Mission to the United Nations in New York and can speak English, Russian, and French.
对于这个地处内陆、经济相对落后且贫困的小国而言，萨勒姆赛这种具有西方背景的职业生涯实属罕见。通常来说，老挝的领导人除了与越南、中国等邻国共产党政权保持联系外，在国际上几乎鲜为人知。
His Western-oriented career is unusual for Laos, a small land-locked and impoverished country whose leaders generally have virtually no international profile aside from links with fraternal neighboring communist governments in Vietnam and China.
据KPL报道，萨勒姆赛在当选后向议会发表讲话时表示，新政府将优先致力于粮食生产、基础设施修复、矿产资源管理、重大投资项目的推进、旅游业发展、税收工作以及货币稳定。
In a speech to the assembly after his election, Saleumxay said his government would give immediate attention to food production, infrastructure recovery, mineral management, major investment projects, tourism, revenue collection, and monetary stability, KPL reported.
德国贝塔斯曼基金会发布的2026年老挝国情报告指出，这个东南亚国家的经济表现疲软，还面临过度借贷、债务负担沉重、外汇储备不足以及货币贬值等多重挑战。报告还指出：“这个一党制国家目前仍无意推行多党制改革。”
A 2026 country report for Laos issued by Germany’s Bertelsmann Stiftung says the Southeast Asian nation’s economy is weak and faces challenges from overborrowing, debt obligations, a lack of reserves and currency depreciation. “The one-party state still shows no inclination toward multiparty reform,” it noted.
老挝在越南战争期间发挥了重要作用：它不仅是保皇派政府与共产党叛军交战的战场，还成为胡志明小道的必经之地——这条通道用于将物资从北方的共产党控制区运往南方战场。正因如此，老挝遭受了美国空军历史上人均轰炸强度最高的打击。
Laos played a major role during the Vietnam War, not only as a battleground between a royalist government and communist rebels, but also for hosting part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which carried supplies from communist North Vietnam to battle in the south. It consequently suffered some of the heaviest bombing per capita in history by the U.S. Air Force.
1975年12月，受共产党领导的老挝爱国阵线击败了得到美国支持的保皇派武装并掌权。同年早些时候，越南和柬埔寨的共产党势力也相继夺取了政权。
In December 1975, the communist Pathet Lao prevailed against the U.S.-backed royalist forces and took power, as did fraternal communist forces earlier that year in Vietnam and Cambodia.
如今，老挝仍与越南保持着密切关系，越南总理将于本周四访问老挝。中国的影响力也日益增强，凭借强大的经济实力推动两国经贸合作。作为一个内陆国家，老挝在贸易与投资方面高度依赖周边国家，包括泰国。水电是其最主要的出口产品，这些电力由各类水电站提供。
Laos continues to maintain close relations with Vietnam, whose prime minister will pay a visit on Thursday. China has increasing influence, able to exercise its huge economic muscle in cementing economic and trade cooperation. As a landlocked nation, Laos is very reliant on its neighbors, also including Thailand, for trade as well as investment. Its leading export is electricity, produced by hydropower dams.