Vietnam and Laos agreed to speed up the implementation of their 2008-2015 trade development project in an effort to raise two-way trade to 1 billion USD this year and 2 billion USD in 2015. The consensus was reached during talks between Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Nguyen Thanh Bien and his Lao counterpart, Khemmany Pholsena, in Vientiane on June 7. The two sides also agreed that commodities originated from the two countries will enjoy the same preferential import-export taxes for 2011 as in 2010. The two countries will coordinate in organizing joint trade fairs in several northern and southern provinces in Laos and studying the possibility of signing a free trade area (FTA) agreement. The Vietnamese delegation visited Laos on June 3-7 at the invitation of the Lao Ministry of Industry and Trade.
Source: KPL – Lao News Agency
