Laos eyes further Chinese investment
Laos eyes further Chinese investment
Laos expects to attract more Chinese investment after becoming a member of the World Trade Organisation early next year, according to senior government officials.
Speaking at the Lao Investment Seminar in Beijing, China, last week, Lao Ambassador to China Mr Somdy Bounkhoum said Laos was ready to offer preferential policies to Chinese businesses investing in Laos, in terms of tax exemptions and land use and labour resource policies.
Investors can benefit from preferential policies in various economic zones in Laos. Different incentives are available in special economic zones, export processing zones, industrial parks, tourism zones, duty free zones and other zones, the ambassador informed the Chinese new agency Xinhua.
The seminar was jointly organised by the Lao Boten Economic Zone Development Group Limited, Yunnan Provincial Overseas Investment Co., Ltd., and COSCO Logistics Co., Ltd.
The Lao Embassy to China and the China-Asean Business Council Chinese Secretariat co-sponsored the event.
Nearly 200 representatives from Chinese enterprises and government bodies from both countries attended the one day seminar.
The Lao ambassador said one of the attractions of Laos for investors is that it lies in the centre of the Greater Mekong Subregion, a natural economic area bound together by the Mekong River, covering 2.6 million square kilometres.
The GMS has a combined population of around 326 million, and includes the countries of Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam as well as Yunnan province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of China.
At the seminar, the Minister Counsellor in charge of economic and commercial affairs at the Lao Embassy to China, Mr Khampanh Sengthongkham, spoke about the advantages Laos can offer in terms of attracting investment from China.
Located in the heart of the region, Laos is "the only country bordering all the other countries in the GMS," Mr Khampanh said, adding that with a total population of just over six million, Laos has relatively low labour costs.
Laos has an abundance of natural resources, large areas of fertile agricultural land, tourist attractions and comparatively few natural disasters, according to Mr Khampanh. He advised investors to take note of the opportunities in various sectors including agriculture and forestry, hydropower, mining and tourism.
Executive secretary-general of the China-Asean Business Council, Mr Xu Ningning, said that in the first 10 months of this year, Sino-Laos trade volumes reached US$1.37 billion, up 42.8 percent year on year, far above China's average foreign trade growth rate of 6.3 percent.
With a total investment volume of US$3.3 billion, China is the third largest foreign investor in Laos after Thailand and Vietnam, said section chief Mao Tianyu of the Department of International Trade and Economic Affairs at China's Ministry of Commerce.
vientiane times
