Laos the top place of Vietnamese investment

A meeting between officials from the two countries. Photo: VGP

The director of Vietnam’s Department of Foreign Investment, Do Nhat Hoang, said Laos was the biggest recipient of Vietnamese investment. Projects launched in Laos have generated more than 40,000 jobs for local people and raised the country’s budget revenue, Hoang added.

Vietnamese enterprises have also participated in social welfare activities including constructing schools, clinics, hospitals, roads and low-income housing during the course of their investment projects in Laos. These projects have made a contribution to the socio-economic development of Laos, said Manothong Vongsay, director of the Department of Investment Promotion in Laos’ Ministry of Planning and Investment.

However, Vietnamese firms face a number of problems when investing in Laos, like a lack of information about potential markets as well as the mechanisms and policies available to attract foreign investment.

Vietnam’s National Assembly passed the Investment Law in 2014 and Decree No. 83 in 2015 to facilitate foreign investment by Vietnam enterprises.