Lao Minister of Planning and Investment Khamjane Vongphosy. — VNA/VNS Photo Phạm Kiên

VIENTIANE — The Laos-Việt Nam ties have been expanding across the board and are now at the best time in history, said Lao Minister of Planning and Investment Khamjane Vongphosy.

The minister, who is head of the Lao-Việt Nam Cooperation Committee, made the assessment in an interview granted to the Vietnam News Agency on economic cooperation between the two countries in the recent past.  

According to him, the two countries have the time-honoured tradition of cooperation and mutual support throughout their respective revolutions to regain independence and national unification as well as the current causes of national defence, construction and development.   

Minister Khamjane noted that under the close leadership of the two Parties and States, ministries, agencies and localities of both countries have actively coordinated with each other to effectively implement the agreement on the 10-year cooperation strategy (2021-2030) and the five-year cooperation agreement (2021-2025) as well as cooperation plans for each period. This has contributed greatly to maintaining political stability, ensuring national defence-security and socio-economic development of each country, and further promoting the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two nations, he said.    

He underlined that the Vietnamese Government has provided a large volume of aid to Laos, one third of which was used for human resources development, and the remainder was allocated to projects in other field, including poverty reduction.

The minister highlighted the bilateral economic partnership, with two-way trade value rising throughout the years.  Meanwhile, Vietnamese companies are running over 400 investment projects in Laos, which have contributed significantly to local socio-economic development, especially in infrastructure, transports, social welfare, education and culture in remote and hard-to-reach areas, thus helping gradually improve the living conditions of local people, he said.  

Khamjane also informed that the two countries have worked to enhance the connectivity between the two economies, particularly in trade, investment, finance, transport infrastructure, energy, telecommunications and tourism, with a view to expanding the scope for cooperation and development not only between them but also with other countries in the region.

The minister said following the direction of their leaders, the two countries have been encouraging Vietnamese firms to invest in Laos, with attention paid to attracting investment of corporations with good financial capacity and expertise to such fields as clean agriculture, processing industry, clean energy, cultural tourism and nature conservation.

He stressed that the Lao Government has attaches importance to improving the investment and business environment through streamlining licensing process, adding that the work is expected to facilitate Vietnamese investors’ investment and expansion of production in Laos. — VNS