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Laos trade to total $1 billion
Viet Nam and Laos will continue to boost implementation of the 2008-15 trade development project in order to raise two-way trade.
Through the project, the two countries hope to increase bilateral trade to US$1 billion this year and $2 billion in 2015.
This agreement was reached during talks between Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Thanh Bien and his Lao counterpart, Khemmani Pholssena, in Vientiane on Monday.
The two sides also agreed that goods from both countries will enjoy the same preferential import-export taxes for 2011 as they did in 2010.
The two countries will join hands to organise trade fairs in several northern and southern Laotian provinces and study the possibility of signing a free trade area (FTA) agreement.
They will work together to develop plans for a Viet Nam-Laos border market network and development of the Tay Trang-Sop Hun and Bo Y-Phu Cua border trade areas.
The two sides pledged to foster co-operation in training and information exchange as well as co-ordinating mechanisms between their ministries and agencies in order to further bilateral trade relations.
Bilateral trade between the two nations have developed significantly, posting an annual growth rate of 27 per cent during the 2006-08 period, according to the Viet Nam General Customs Department.
Despite the global economic crisis, two-way trade still reached $420 million last year and $96 million in the first quarter of this year, up 16.8 per cent year on year.
These figures lag behind the huge potential of the two countries, experts have said.
Vietnamese exports to Laos earned over $44 million in the first quarter, making up a modest 0.3 per cent of Viet Nam's total trade turnover, while Laos exports to Viet Nam accounted for 0.2 per cent of Viet Nam's total import value at $52 million.
Among other products, Viet Nam exported petroleum, steel and iron, apparel and footwear to Laos.
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