The Ministries of Planning and Investment of Vietnam and Laos signed an agreement on bilateral cooperation for the 2019-2021 period during the talks between the two ministers in Vientiane on June 22.

Vietnamese Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung 

At the talks, Lao Minister of Planning and Investment Suphan Keomixay hailed the significance of the Vietnamese delegation’s visit as it helped tighten the comprehensive cooperation and special solidarity between Laos and Vietnam.

Both he and the Vietnamese Minister, Nguyen Chi Dung, agreed that the two ministries as well as the Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Vietnam Cooperation Committees should maintain close coordination to help address difficulties in investment, improve the business and investment climate, facilitate connectivity between the two countries’ enterprises and diversify trade activities to make bilateral trade achieve a stable growth rate of 10-15 percent a year.

Dung suggested both sides continue implementing memoranda of understanding on development cooperation, affirming that the Vietnamese ministry will boost collaboration with the Lao side in training and experience sharing.

The two sides agreed to focus on speeding up investment and assistance projects, particularly those related to transport connectivity, and addressing difficulties facing enterprises in carrying out investment projects.

Within the framework of the Vietnamese minister’s working visit to Laos, on June 21, he was hosted by Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, who asked the two ministers, as the Chairs of the Vietnam-Laos and Laos-Vietnam Cooperation Committees, to continue working with each other to boost the effective implementation of investment projects between the two countries.

He affirmed that Laos welcomes and will continue creating favourable conditions for Vietnamese enterprises to invest in Laos, especially in the fields of tourism and organic agriculture.