A project to construct and develop an ASEAN Highway Network has been broached in the Vietnam by Mekong Sub-region Development Cooperation Program. According to this project, ASEAN Route 120, among 26 routes of the ASEAN Highway Network, will link from North-West of Thailand via South of Lao PDR to Lao Bao of Vietnam and run along Road #9 of Vietnam to Dong Ha, Quang Tri Province, an intersection of important transportation network of Vietnam between Highway #1A, the North- to- South railway and the national highway. ASEAN 120 route will promise potential economic areas for trade and investment between ASEAN countries, especially for Thailand, Cambodia, Lao and Vietnam.
Properly assessed the important role of such ASEAN route 120 in the development of the national economy, and in an effort to exploit strategic advantages of economic development in the regional area, Lao Bao Commercial Area was established by the Prime Minister on 12 November 1998 under Decision No. 219 to wait in
