SINGAPORE -- Chinese language internet search provider Baidu opened its first overseas joint laboratory with Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research, or A*STAR, on Thursday.

The laboratory, under the agreement inked this February by senior officers of both parts, aims to work on cutting-edge research on human language technology.

Equipped with the latest computing facilities and a team of established researchers and engineers, it will focus on researches of Southeast Asian language resources, natural language processing, information retrieval and information extraction, and speech information processing, representing Baidu's commitment to enhance its products and services in Southeast Asia, the A*STAR said in a statement.

In particular, the laboratory has already successfully completed its first milestone on a research project on Vietnamese and Thai Language Resources and Processing, which may extend the company's Web services to the Southeast Asian market.