Economic integration in East and Southeast Asia promotes infrastructure's development and facilitates trade. Economic integration may decrease the costs of moving technicians and other experts, and possibly enhance the probability of South-South technology transfer or technology transfer among developing countries. China, Thailand, and other industrialized nations in the region have technical and managerial capacity and expertise that are transferable to the catching-up countries. The recent wage increases in these industrial countries also encourage firms to relocate labor-intensive processes and transfer related technologies to less-developed countries, including Laos