Vientiane calls for investment

HCM CITY — The Lao Government offered various incentives at a conference held yesterday in HCM City in a bid to seek more foreign investment.

Laos has 10 big projects in Vientiane that need foreign capital, including the Vientiane-HCM City shopping centre, a disease treatment project, a plastic products project as well as other projects in bio-fertilisers, ceramics, and transit services, according to a Lao trade official.

Bounpone Sisoulath, director of the Department of Industry and Trade of Vientiane, made the offer as he discussed trade opportunities with 60 Vietnamese businesses at the conference held by HCM City People’s Committee.

Foreign investors who make an investment in Laos, he said, would enjoy multiple benefits such as political stability, low production costs as well as a one-stop shop service and tax exemptions or reductions.

The government would support businesses in establishing and operating production activities as well as protect their legitimate rights and intellectual property, he added.

"Foreign investors can also receive benefits from the lease or concession of land, the use of foreign labourers, and can qualify for long-term residence and entry visas for their families," he said.

Activities to be promoted include production for export, production of raw materials, equipment to be supplied to key industrial activities, and construction of infrastructure, according to the official.

Activities relating to agriculture, forestry and handicraft as well as industrial activities using modern technology and human resource development will also be promoted.

The Lao Government encouraged all forms of foreign investment from business co-operation contracts to joint ventures and 100 per cent foreign-owned enterprises, he said, noting that those projects registered for over US$5 million must be submitted to a central foreign investment committee.

Other foreign-invested projects capitalised at less than $5 million must seek approval from a local foreign investment committee.

The conference calling for more investment and trade into Laos, a poor ASEAN member country, came at a propitious time as the two countries are celebrating 45 years of diplomatic ties and 30 years of signing the Viet Nam-Laos friendship and co-operation agreement, said HCM City’s Chairman Le Hoang Quan.

The conference held during Vientiane Week in the city aimed to help businesses from both countries exchange experiences and study business opportunities in Laos, Quan said.

He said over the past years bilateral relations between Laos and Viet Nam had increasingly intensified, with HCM City fraternising with Vientiane in 2001 to pay the way for cooperation in many fields, such as agriculture, trade, healthcare and education.

The success of a HCM City senior city delegation to Laos last April led by secretary Le Thanh Hai had taken bilateral ties between the two cities to a new height, he added.

Two-way export turnover in the 2001-2005 period reached an estimated $687.8 million, averaging $137.5 million a year with the figure hitting $165 million in 2005 alone and $115 million in the first half of last year.

Over the past few years, Laos has become the leading country in attracting outbound investment from Viet Nam. Industrial plant and hydropower plants made up the bulk of the Vietnamese investment in Laos.

Vietnamese investment in Laos has amounted to $461 million since 1993 with its total investment in eight hydropower plants in Laos reaching $1.72 billion.

Viet Nam is currently the third largest foreign investors in Laos after China and Thailand, with 106 projects worth $504 million.

The two countries have adopted various measures to facilitate bilateral trade and investment activities by implementing transparent incentive policies, offering tax cuts and building bordergate economic zones.

The Lao economy is mainly reliant on agriculture. Its staple exports, including power, timber, coffee, garments and handicrafts, are for ASEAN-member countries and the EU. — VNS