Illustrative Image (Source: VNA) Da Nang (VNA) - The central city of Da Nang plans to relaunch a direct air route to Pakse, in Laos’ province of Champasak, in a bid to boost investment, cooperation, and tourism in the years to come.
The announcement was made by the city’s Party S ecretary Nguyen Xuan Anh during a working visit to Champasak province in Laos.
He said the two cities, Pakse and Da Nang should increase investment, trade, tourism, and education by re-opening the direct flight that was halted shortly after its original launch in 2013.
Xuan Anh, who is Chairman of Da Nang’s People’s Council, said Da Nang offers investment projects in infrastructure, urban development, trade service and tourism in south and central provinces of Laos.
The two cities also agreed on cooperation programmes in 2018-22 including education, trade and tourism, heath and urban development.
As scheduled, Da Nang will support Champasak with total funds of 21.74 billion VND (nearly 1 million USD) for social security and heath care.
The city allocated an assistance fund of 5.8 billion VND (258,000 USD) for Champasak following a Memorandum of Understanding in 2013-17.
Da Nang has only one investment project in Chamasak, out of 271 foreign direct investment projects.
The central had signed assistance projects for provinces in Laos worth a total 2 million USD from 2013 to 2017.
The city inked 29 Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with cities and provinces in Laos such as Vientiane, Savannakhet, Champasak, Sekong, Salavan, Attapu, Bolikhamsay and Xaynhaburi.
According to the city’s I nvestment and P lanning D epartment, Da Nang has invested 52.3 million USD in Laos’ garment, mine ore, industrial and agricultural sectors.
Last year, Da Nang exported petrol, rubber and plastics to Laos worth 34.4 million USD.
According to the latest report from the Association of Vietnam Investors to Laos (AVIL), Vietnam’s investments in Laos now total 5.3 billion USD in registered capital, with annual growth rates averaging 30 percent over the last five years.
Investments registered in Laos account for roughly one quarter of Vietnam’s overseas investments of 20.2 billion USD. -VNA
