The Lao energy and mining sector has targeted to contribute at least 20 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2020 with an annual growth rate of above 12 percent.

In the past five year, the sector contributed 12 percent to GDP and the production value reached 94.34 trillion LAK (11.5 billion USD), up 9.22 percent compared to the period from 2006 to 2010.

Only in the fiscal year of 2013-2014, the mining industry earned 12.56 trillion LAK (1.56 billion USD) from exports.

So far, the Ministry of Energy and Mining has granted license to 69 companies operating mining projects on a total area of 274,663 hectares in Laos.

The country has 29 hydropower plants with a total capacity of 3,320 MW.

It is expected that the total capacity will reach 12,500 MW by 2020, 85 percent of which will be exported.-VNA