File photo of silk products in Suzhou.
Suzhou Taihu Snow Silk has recently signed an agreement with Vientiane, capital city of Laos to push forward all-round cooperation in areas including mulberry planting, silkworm breeding and cocoon processing, on the basis of the existing flagship sericulture project jointly built by China and Laos.
In recent years, with the development of the Belt and Road Initiative, Suzhou sericulture has diversified in its ways of going global, including the export of silkworm eggs and sericulture technology as well as the construction of industrial parks overseas.
At the invitation of the Laos Ministry of Science and Technology, sericulture experts from Soochow University have visited Laos many times for field research and giving technical guidance. Based on the geographical and climatic conditions and the country's economic status, experts specially developed mulberry trees and silkworms that are suitable for local cultivation, which were highly appreciated by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Laos and the local enterprises.
To further strengthen cooperation of sericulture industries with countries along the Belt and the Road, a demonstration park with modern sericulture production technology and development model was revealed in Vientiane last year. The park, built by the Laos Ministry of Science and Technology and Soochow University, covers an area of about 10 hectares. It is mainly for the demonstration of technologies covering mulberry seedling raising, cultivation, harvesting and utilization, silkworm hatching, cocoon silk processing and other aspects. It also offers trainings of sericulture technologies and has cultivated a number of sericulture technicians for Laos. The project will also help with the widespread use of the latest technologies of the sericulture industry.
