Deputy PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Lao counterpart Somsavat Lengsavat attended the conference – an event to celebrate the 50th founding anniversary of the Vietnam-Lao diplomatic relations (September 5) and the 35th year of signing the Friendship and Cooperation Treaty.
The two sides agreed to strengthen investment promotion and state management over investment projects in Laos, further assist enterprises having investment in Laos. They also agreed to the establishment of a special mechanism on investment.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment said that by June 2012, Vietnam had had 214 valid investment projects with total registered capital of nearly VND3.5 billion in Laos.
In the first half of this year, Vietnam licensed 7 investment projects totaling US$42.1 million in Laos.
In the coming time, total investment capital of Vietnamese enterprises in Laos is predicted to surge to US$4.5-5 billion. To date, their realized capital in Laos has reached US$691 million.
According to the two Deputy PMs, the two-way trade between Vietnam and Laos will surely increase to US$2 billion by 2015 as targeted.
By Ngoc Van