VietNamNet Bridge – Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group has invested approximately $1.2 billion in Laos to plant corn, sugar cane, rubber and palm in an area of 40,000ha.

Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong (middle) and HAGL Group's Chair Doan Nguyen Duc during a recent visit to Laos.

Mr. Tran Bac Ha, Chair of the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Laos, says that by the end of 2013, Vietnamese enterprises had invested in 440 projects in Laos, worth about $4.9 billion. Of them, Hoang Anh Gia Lai’s investment ranks as the largest. Currently, Vietnam is the one of the three largest investors in Laos.

In particular, Vietnamese enterprises have invested in four southern provinces of Laos, with about $1.7 billion. Hoang Anh Gia Lai accounts for over 90 percent of that capital. Vietnamese companies in Laos employ 35,000 workers and the number is expected to rise to 65,000 by 2020.

Vietnamese investors have granted $40 million to social welfare programs in Laos, of which more than $30 million is from Hoang Anh Gia Lai.

Ha says the association aims to increase investment capital in Laos to $6.3 billion in 2015. He says trade turnover between the two countries has reached about $1 billion/year. But this figure is not high, according to Ha.

To meet the target of pushing bilateral trade volume to $2 billion in 2015, Ha asked the two governments to create the most favorable conditions for Vietnamese businesses to invest in Laos, including the opening of HCM City-Hanoi-Vientiane-Attapeu air routes to promote economic development in Laos’ southern region.

Mr. Doan Nguyen Duc, Chair of Hoang Anh Gia Lai, says that his  company is also preparing to import 100,000 Australian cows to breed in Laos.

Kham Pha