Phongsavanh Group prepares to invest in Thailand
Phongsavanh Group prepares to invest in Thailand
The Phongsavanh Group plans to expand its business cooperation and investment in Khon Kaen province, Thailand, as part of integration within the Asean Economic Community (AEC).
Group representatives visited Khon Kaen on February 15-17, led by Group Chairman Prof. Dr Od Phongsavanh, to meet officials and discuss business aspects of cooperation and development in tourism, property, human resources, healthcare, aviation, banking and finance.
On the occasion of Phongsavanh Group's visit to Khon Kaen, the group's Chairman of the Shareholder Committee, Somboun Phongsavanh, said they wanted to study and view opportunities for business cooperation and investment in Khon Kaen, where they hope to expand business growth to foreign countries.
In the tourism sector, officials from Phongsavanh Bank and Khon Kaen Zoo signed an agreement, planning to offer discounts for Lao nationals visiting the zoo. The bank's customers can use their ATM or credit cards to get a discount of 30 percent on entry tickets.
�The agreement will run for one year to see if it is successful and the bank will also enter into further agreements with other zoos in Thailand,� Somboun said.
In property investment, the Group expects to cooperate with a major Thai property investor, Isaan Piman Group Co Ltd, on a condominium development in Thailand.
The Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Isaan Piman at the E-San Industrial Fair 2017 in Khon Kaen. The MoU will allow Phongsavanh to conduct a feasibility study on condominium investment in the province.
Prof. Dr Od said that once the development starts, the condominium investment value will include Phongsavanh's 49 percent and the rest will belong to the Thai investor, Isaan Piman.
With regard to medical services, the group signed an MoU with Khon Kaen Ram hospital on cooperation in ambulance setup and training in providing assistance or rescue services.
This cooperation is a social assistance or rescue project to help people involved in accidents and the project will have both vehicles for the initial or basic assistance/rescue team and vehicles for the advanced assistance team. The advanced rescue team will be able to provide care the same as a small hospital.
�This cooperation will be a nonprofit service project. It will be a new community social assistance,� Somboun said.
The Group also attended the E-San Industrial Fair 2017 and is the only business operator from Laos to exhibit the Group's success, growth, capacity and activities.
The Group's participation in the fair was aimed at sharing experiences in business operations with other Thai business operators and participants.
At the fair, the Thai government presented a Business Award and Certificate of Honour to the Phongsavanh Group for supporting the fair.
The Group also met officials from the Bank of Thailand's Northeastern Region Office, to discuss business cooperation and investment opportunities between the two countries.
Good cooperation between the Group and Khon Kaen University over past years has seen students from the university take up placements at the Group's companies while the Group's staff have benefited from hands-on practice at the university.
They have also provided scholarships for Lao nationals to study at Khon Kaen University in a bid to develop quality human resources.
Over the past three decades, the Phongsavanh Group has grown step by step under the founder's vision of conducting a profitable business enterprise, juxtaposed by bettering people's quality of life and consolidating economic expansion.
The Group has grown remarkably since it diversified into various business sectors including the timber industry, telecommunications, trading, construction, banking and finance, mining, oil and petroleum products, airlines, franchises, innovation, convenience stores, logistics and insurance.
The timber industry emphasised the export of processed wood, which ended in 2008 in line with the government's policy to preserve the country's forests.
The Group has participated in the socio-economic development of the country progressively, paying taxes to the government annually.
In addition, it is a donor to ministries, organisations and the grass-roots level and has assisted in times of natural disaster such as drought and flooding, as well as supporting national sports activities and important events.
To apply the Party's Three Builds directive, the Group supported the policy by providing loans at low interest rates to farmers to reduce their level of poverty.
People are happy with the work we do and it inspires more confidence in the government, officials said.
Regarding coordination with foreign countries, the Group has good coordination with Vietnam, Cambodia, China, Russia and Dubai, the capital of UAE, in the exchange of merchandise and investment.
It has representative offices in Vietnam, China, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar which have helped Laos to become well known in the region and at the international level.
