Singapore, Taiwan companies join forces with Lao govt to improve agarwood in Laos
Singapore, Taiwan companies join forces with Lao govt to improve agarwood in Laos
Self Holding Co., Ltd. in cooperation with Taiwan Simson Agricultural Co., Ltd., facilitated by the government, will improve the quality of agarwood in Laos and enhance the farmers' income condition.
A Joint Venture Contract for two million agarwood trees under the Quality Improvement Joint Development Project, was signed in Vientiane last week by Self Holding Co., Ltd. CEO, Mr Frederick Tan, Simson Agricultural Co., Ltd. CEO, Mr Chen San Jung and Agric ulture Promotion Association Chairman, Mr Thongsa Sirimoungkhoun.
The cerem ony was attended by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's Forest Department Deputy Director General Mr Boualy Phameuang, who is also the national agarwood advisor, officials from the Agriculture Department, the Ministry of Home Affairs and overseas business partners.
Self Holding Co., Ltd. has embarked on the project for two years in Laos and has made good progress, said Mr Tan.
With the cooperation between S elf Holding and Simson, facilitated by the government, the project will help to improve the quality of agarwood in Laos with greater success, he said.
In the next few years, the company plans to further increase the number of agarwood trees from two million to double that number, Mr Tan said.
Simson Agricultural Co., Ltd. was established five years ago and currently has branches around the world, said Mr Chen San Jung.
To begin with, the company's business operations were not strong as it lacked experience, he said.
The company has invested in similar projects in different countries especially Malaysia and Cambodia , said Mr Chen San Jung.
To increase its competitive edge, the company has developed significantly and now has confidence at the international level for the past two years with the support of Self Holding and the Agr iculture Promotion Association Vientiane Capital.
“In Laos, we began testing and invested a lot of funds in improving agarwood over the last year with cooperation from Singapore, China and Taiwan business partners,” he explained.
Recognising the company's potential and output, the company decided to invest in this project in cooperation with Self Holding Co., Ltd.
Despite struggling with high competition, the company will try to operate the project successfully and reach the set targets through growing cooperatio n with business partners, Mr Chen San Jung said.
Also speaking on this occasion, Mr Boualy called for both companies to implement the project according to Laos regulations and with strong responsibility for agarwood development in Laos.
He said that over the past five years, Laos agarwood growers had suffered many problems due to a lack of education on growing and marketing methods as well as the ability to engage in the improvement of the relevant technology.
He was certain that through cooperation with both companies and other partners, the agarwood business in Laos would be rehabilitated.
