Vietnam, Laos step up investment ties

Da Nang (VNA) – Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc called on Vietnam and Laos to roll out mechanisms and policies to support investors in each country.

The official made the appeal while co-chairing the second Vietnam-Laos investment cooperation conference that opened in the central city of Da Nang on March 27.

The two countries should focus on implementing their bilateral agreement for 2016-2020, accelerating transport connectivity and hastening the implementation of the one-door mechanism.

Businesses, for their part, need to speed up the progress of licenced projects and observe local laws, the official stressed.

Vietnamese businesses should consider investing in the neighbouring country and building strategic projects, he added.

Echoing Phuc’s views, Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavad Lengsavath urged the two sides to complete their administrative reforms and outline bilateral cooperation mechanisms.

The two countries need to hold a joint Cabinet meeting after the annual meeting of the two Politburos in order to realise their agreed-upon goals, he said.

He suggested Vietnamese businesses coordinate with Lao authorities to invest in projects in the spheres of health care, education-training, agriculture and tourism.

This year’s conference devoted a lot of time to charting cooperation orientations for the two sides and discussing the Lao Government’s preferential policies for Vietnamese investors.

The event offered an opportunity for Vietnamese businesses and investors to access new projects in Laos and promote the two sides’ collaboration in other fields like tourism and transport.

Within the framework of the conference, Vietnamese and Lao agencies and businesses engaged in seminars that introduced Laos’ needs and investment attraction plan for the next five years.

Vietnamese investors have, so far, poured 4.9 billion USD in the neighbouring country, helping create jobs for about 40,000 Lao labourers.

Laos ranks first among 68 countries and territories Vietnam has invested in, while Vietnam is placed second among countries investing in Laos.-VNA