Vietnam ’s southern province of Binh Duong and Champasak province of Laos will step up cooperation in planting rubber trees and technical transfer to increase plantation areas in the next five years.

This was part of a nine-point agreement signed between the two provinces’ leaders on June 21 during a Vietnam visit by a high-level delegation from Champasak province, led by its Party Secretary and Governor, Sonsay Siphandone, who is also member of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party Central Committee.

Under the deal, the two sides also agreed to continue the exchange of high-ranking delegations and enhance cooperation in porcelain and construction materials production, as well as training students during the 2011-2015 period.

At the talks, participants reviewed outcomes of a project on planting 10,000 ha of rubber trees in Laos between 2006 and 2010, with 6,100 ha of rubber trees being planted across the country, of which 4,100 ha in Champasak province were maturing.

Host and guest exchanged experiences in building industrial parks and luring foreign investment.

Binh Duong invested nearly 1 million USD into social welfare establishments in the Lao province, practically contributing to developing the fruitful friendship between the two localities.

On the same day, the Lao delegation made fact-finding tours of KumHo tyre manufacturing plant, My Phuoc Industrial Zone and Binh Duong New City./.