A street in Vientiane (Photo: alamy.com) Hanoi (VNA) – Laos will strive to reach a trade value of 8.94 billion USD in 2017, said Minister of Planning and Investment Souphanh Keomixay.
Accordingly, Laos will increase export earnings to over 4.45 billion USD, while keeping import value at 4.48 billion USD.
To reach the target, the Lao Government will focus on production and ensuring that Lao products meet international standards, especially in the farm produce processing and garment-textiles industries, the minister said.
Besides, the country needs to complete construction of 12 hydropower projects with total designed capacity of 468.4 MW by the end of 2017.
In related news, the Lao Government is mapping out an ambitious project to build a 585-km expressway from the capital city of Vientiane to Champassak province.
Lao officials said the Government will enable private and foreign businesses to join the project in the form of Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT).-VNA
