At the meeting (Photo: nationmultimedia.com)Laos and Thailand agreed to draft a plan to double the value of bilateral trade and investment to 10 billion USD by 2021.
The consensus was reached in a meeting between Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somdee Duangdee and his Thai counterpart Somkid Jatusripitak in Vientiane on May 24.
“We will collaborate to develop both trade and investment by focusing on logistics, energy, tourism, border trade, industry and the capital market, and also develop small and medium-sized enterprises in both countries”, Thailand’s English-language daily newspaper The Nation quoted Somkid Jatusripitak as saying.
In his speech, the Lao Deputy Prime Minister stated that the meeting would open opportunities for the two nations to develop trade and investment relations.
To attract more foreign corporations, the Lao Government has made amendment to the investment promotion law and provided one-door services and tax incentives of up to 15 years for investment projects in Laos, he highlighted.
Somdee said that his government has developed infrastructure connecting China, Vietnam and Thailand, which has been touted as a door for Lao products to enter the third country.
Statistics from Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that Thailand is one of Laos’ key trade partners. Last year, two-way trade reached nearly 4.6 billion USD, including 2 billion USD of Lao exports./.