PM attends talks with Vietnamese business leaders
PM attends talks with Vietnamese business leaders
The Lao government will lend a sympathetic ear to Vietnamese investors concerning the difficulties they face when doing business in Laos, Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has promised.
The prime minister made the commitment on Friday when addressing a dialogue meeting with the Vietnamese business community in Laos.
Mr Thongloun said his presence at the meeting along with more than half of the Lao Cabinet members showed the importance they attached to Vietnamese investors and their desire to learn about the problems hindering Vietnamese firms' operations, so that timely solutions could be found.
The most common complaints have centred on the procedures involved in granting investment licences; land use and ground clearance policies; the import and export of goods and temporary import and re-export services; taxation, related fees and tax refunds; employees and visas for labourers; and the business environment.
Mr Thongloun noted that after 15 years Vietnam has become the third largest foreign investor in Laos, which he said indicated the close ties between the two countries in all fields.
�To ease these problems, we pledge to instruct officials in ministries and other bodies to work with Vietnamese firms to seek solutions to specific issues,� he said.
Mr Thongloun asked Vietnamese investors to cooperate with Laos in improving working mechanisms and management capacity.
He told potential investors that Laos had stopped granting concessions for rubber tree plantations and licences for new mining operations, citing the low market rubber price, shortage of labourers and land, and environmental protection as among the reasons for the suspensions.
He also said the Lao government encouraged investors from all countries to engage in fair competition and asked them to strictly comply with the country's laws.
During the dialogue, senior ministry officials answered questions put by Vietnamese businesses.
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Mr Somdy Duangdy promised to address the slow refund of Value Added Tax payments, while Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare Ms Baykham Khatthiya said the ministry would consider requests by certain foreign-funded projects for more manual labourers than the 10 percent cap currently imposed.
As of the end of September 2016, Vietnam had 266 licensed projects in Laos with total registered capital of US$5.1 billion, an increase of 1.3 times and 1.26 times respectively on the 2011 figures.
Vietnamese-operated projects are located in 16 out of Laos'18 provinces, with many having contributed significantly to local socio-economic development.
The Vietnamese News Agency reported recently that these projects contributed US$240-260 million to Laos' national budget each year and created jobs for 35,000 labourers. These figures are expected to rise to US$350-400 million and 45,000 labourers, respectively, in 2017 and continue to rise in the future.
