Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc speaks at the meeting. (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Trade cooperation was a spotlight of the Vietnam-Laosrelationship in the first ten months of this year, with revenue reaching 940million USD.
Thefigure was unveiled at a meeting of permanent Cabinet members in Hanoi onDecember 7 under the chair of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Thetwo-way trade is projected to hit 1.1-1.2 billion USD in 2019, up 12.6 percentyear-on-year, surpassing the targets of 1 billion USD and 10 percent set by theGovernment.
Vietnamhas become the third biggest investor in Laos with 413 projects valued at 4.22billion USD, with the most outstanding a joint venture of Viettel MilitaryIndustry and Telecoms Group (Viettel), projects of Vietnam Rubber Group, MuongThanh Hotel, Crow Plaza, LaoViet Bank and Xekaman 1 hydropower plant.
Besides,Vietnam has committed to providing 3.25 trillion VND (139.8 million USD) innon-refundable aid for Laos during the 2016-2020 period, including 707 billionVND in the 2019 fiscal year, up 18.4 percent against the previous year, aiming tohelp the neighbouring country implement projects on infrastructure, especiallytransport, energy, personnel training and social welfare.
Inearly 2019, Vietnam provided 300 tonnes of seeds for Laos in support of locals hitby natural disasters.
Apartfrom more than 1,000 scholarships granted to Lao students, Vietnam has also dispatchedteachers to Laos and financed Vietnamese language teaching courses in the country.
Thisyear, about five Vietnamese-funded projects have been completed in Laos and twoothers have been launched.
Atthe meeting, the Cabinet members also pointed out slow capital disbursement ofthe projects, along with bottlenecks in procedures.
ThePM and other Cabinet members called for efforts to remove the difficulties tospeed up the implementation work and prepare for the meeting of theVietnam-Laos Inter-governmental Committee slated for January 2020./.
VNA
