Vietnamese young people doing voluntary work in Lao in 2015. (Photo: SGGPO)
Trade and investment promotion Ho Chi Minh city has organised diverse events attracting large numbers of Vietnamese and Lao enterprises, including the trade and investment promotion fair held in Laos’ Champasak province involving hundreds of enterprises. There are currently 9 projects worth USD62.4 million in Champasak province conducted by Ho Chi Minh city. With their potential, the economic cooperation between the two localities is expected to grow strongly in the years to come, contributing to realising the two-way trade turnover of USD5 billion by 2020.
In Vientiane, many enterprises from Ho Chi Minh city are working very effectively in plastic pipe production, real estate, the building of trade centres, the exploitation of gold and agricultural production. Vientiane appreciates the contribution of the Vietnamese city in its economic development.
To support Vietnamese enterprises in Laos, over the past years, Ho Chi Minh city has organised a wide range of trade, investment and tourism promotion activities. Most recently, in early April, a meeting was held in the city to boost trade promotion to Xaysomboun province, attracting nearly 200 Vietnamese enterprises.
At present, 30 enterprises from Ho Chi Minh city are investing in Laos with capital of over USD250 million. The trade turnover between the city and Laos, which increases year by year, reached over USD6 million in 2015, with more diverse types of goods exchanged, including textile and garment, plastic goods, electronic cable, wood products, machines and equipment, accessories, consumption goods, and food processing industry.
According the Ho Chi Minh city External Relations Department, the cooperation in the 2016-2020 period and that after 2020 will be discussed and signed during the visit to Laos by the city Party Committee Secretary Dinh La Thang which is scheduled in late May or early June.
People exchange
Ho Chi Minh city and Champasak province, over the past years, have had more regular exchanges of delegations to increase cooperation and gain management experience.
The exchange included the event in which a delegation from the Ho Chi Minh city’s Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union came to Laos to give free medical treatment and medicine to the poor, present charitable houses, and carry out cultural and sports exchanges in Champasak province.
Former Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh city Party Committee, Le Thanh Hai, confirmed that the cooperation between the city and Champasak province had went the right way and in an effective way; however, he urged the two localities to hold a larger number of events to introduce key products from the two sides, carry out art exchanges, promote tourism cooperation, and educate the young generation about the special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two localities in particular and between Vietnam and Laos in general.
A wide range of cultural and tourism exchanges have been carried out by Ho Chi Minh city and Vientiane and Champasak province. The Lao tourism sector joined the tourism fair in Ho Chi Minh city while major cultural events like “Ho Chi Minh city Day in Vientiane” and “Ho Chi Minh city Day in Champasak” were also held in Laos.
In terms of education, over 200 students coming from Vientiane and Champasak are studying in universities in Ho Chi Minh city.
Departments and agencies in Ho Chi Minh city regularly organised social and humanitarian activities in Vientiane while the Ho Chi Minh city Union of Friendship Organizations and the Vietnam- Laos Friendship Association held cultural exchanges, most recently, the Bunpimay traditional festival of Laos, helping young people in Ho Chi Minh city have deeper understanding of the Lao culture./.