Lao Deputy PM calls for more investment from Thai Nguyen

THAI NGUYEN — Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavad Lengsavath paid a visit on Saturday to the northern province of Thai Nguyen, one of Vietnamese provinces providing significant human resources training to Lao nationals.

At his working session with provincial authorities, also attended by Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Lengsavath said he also hoped to see more enterprises from Thai Nguyen – and from Viet Nam generally – invest in biotechnology, social development, agriculture, and poverty reduction projects in Laos.

Phuc urged Thai Nguyen to continue its co-operation with Laos in both personnel training and economic development projects, calling the effort a significant task on the diplomatic front.

During Lengsavad's visit, the Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment also handed over an investment licence to Thai Nguyen-based Chien Cong Minerals and Industry Joint Stock Co for a project to explore for zinc, lead and tin ores in the Lao provinces of Xiengkhuang and Huaphan. The project, with an estimated cost of roughly US$8 million, will be carried out over a six-year period.

The visit was also part of a series of activities marking the 50th anniversary of the Viet Nam-Laos diplomatic relations and 35 years since the signing of the Viet Nam-Laos Friendship and Co-operation Treaty.

During the war of resistance against the colonialist French, Thai Nguyen was chosen as the centre of the Viet Bac safety zone, locally known as the country's ‘revolutionary capital'. Many Vietnamese soldiers and volunteers from Thai Nguyen were sent to Laos to help it in its resistance war while various Lao revolutionaries were sent to Thai Nguyen for work and study. — VNS