Vientiane (VNA) – The Laos-Vietnamties have been expanding across the board and are now at the best time in history, said LaoMinister of Planning and Investment Khamjane Vongphosy.

The minister, who is head of theLao-Vietnam Cooperation Committee, made the assessment in an interview grantedto the Vietnam News Agency on economic cooperation between the two countries inthe recent past.  

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

Minister Khamjane noted that under theclose leadership of the two Parties and States, ministries, agencies andlocalities of both countries have actively coordinated with each other toeffectively 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, ensuringnational defence-security and socio-economic development of each country, andfurther promoting the great friendship, special solidarity and comprehensivecooperation between the two nations, he said.    

He underlined that the VietnameseGovernment has provided a large volume of aid to Laos, one third of which wasused for human resources development, and the remainder was allocated toprojects in other fields, including poverty reduction.

The minister highlighted the bilateral economicpartnership, with two-way trade value rising throughout the years.  Meanwhile, Vietnamese companies are running over400 investment projects in Laos, which have contributed significantly to localsocio-economic development, especially in infrastructure, transports, socialwelfare, education and culture in remote and hard-to-reach areas, thus helpinggradually improve the living conditions of local people, he said.  

Khamjane also informed that the twocountries 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 forcooperation and development not only between them but also with other countriesin the region.

The minister said following thedirection of their leaders, the two countries have been encouraging Vietnamesefirms to invest in Laos, with attention paid to attracting investment of corporationswith 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 attachesimportance to improving the investment and business environment throughstreamlining licensing process, adding that the work is expected to facilitate Vietnameseinvestors’ investment and expansion of production in Laos./.