Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith visits Suntory PepsiCo Vietnam Beverage Co., Ltd. in Dien Nam - Dien Ngoc Industrial Park. (Photo: VGP)
During his two-day visit to Vietnam, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on July 6th visited Dien Nam - Dien Ngoc Industrial Park and Hoi An Ancient Town in the central province of Quang Nam to study Vietnam’s experience in recovering production, tourism and services after successfully controlling COVID-19.
He said that the visit also aimed to learn about Quang Nam's experience in attracting investment in industrial and service development over the past 20 years.
From one of the poorest provinces in the country with a budget collection of only about VND100 billion, thanks to the determination of generations of leaders for the development of industry, services and tourism exploiting the two world heritage sites, along with the motto of developing coastal localities to get resources to develop mountainous districts, Quang Nam is now a province of relatively comprehensive development, one of the 17 provinces and cities with the largest budget collection to the central budget. Dien Nam - Dien Ngoc Industrial Park, established in 1996, and Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, established in 2003, becoming the most successful industrial parks in Vietnam, are outstanding examples for development.
By inviting big investors and simplifying investment licensing procedures, since the late 1990s, Nam - Dien Ngoc Industrial Park attracted large European and American investors. Currently, it contributes one fifth of the province’s industrial value and 40% of the province's export turnover.
Appreciating Quang Nam province’s remarkable development over the years, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith expressed his wish that after the successful control of COVID-19 in both countries, Vietnamese businesses will increase investment to Laos. “Local authorities and the Lao Government are willing to create favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest and do business successfully,” he said.
On the same day, Quang Nam province’s leaders and some businesses shared with Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith their experience in COVID-19 prevention, in which they highlighted the Government's consistent policy of "fighting the pandemic like fighting the enemy" and "Willing to sacrifice certain economic benefits in the short term to protect the health and lives of the people". By carrying out measures to deal with businesses’ tax and loan difficulties as well as social welfare packages, the Vietnamese Government has helped businesses and those who have suffered deeply reduced income to gradually recover production and business.
Since June 1st, all tourist destinations in Hoi An have reopened, attracting an increasing number of domestic visitors. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith emphasized that his visit to Vietnam conveyed a strong message that the two countries have been able to control the COVID-19 pandemic. This is also a message to the world about the two countries’ moving towards reopening normally after the pandemic.
Earlier, at talks, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith agreed that Vietnam and Laos need to promote goods, services and people-to-people exchanges while considering resumption of travel, especially reopening flight routes between the two countries in the earliest time./.