VO Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group has become one of the top Vietnamese companies investing in Laos INTRO: Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group has become one of the top Vietnamese companies investing in Laos after learning of the huge agricultural potential in the country. STORY: Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group had become the top Vietnamese firm investing in Laos, injecting more than US$1.2 billion in investment funds into Lao agribusiness. At present, the company has 40,000 hectares of corn, sugarcane, rubber and palm plantation areas. Most of them are in the southern province of Attapeu. The group is producing agricultural produce as raw material to supply its processing industries, such as its sugarcane processing plant. Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group also plans to import 100,000 Australian cattle to breed in Laos after learning about the livestock investment potential in the country. According to a representative from the Association of Vietnamese Investors in Laos, Tran Bac Ha said as quoted in VietNamNet Bridge, a Vietnamese online publication as the end of 2013, Vietnamese enterprises had invested in 440 projects in Laos, worth about U$$4.9 billion, becoming the top foreign investors in Laos. China and Thailand are also among the top foreign investors in the country. Most of the Vietnamese investments in Laos are in the southern provinces, including Champassak, Saravan, Xekong and Attapeu. Vietnamese investment projects in Laos have created more than 35,000 jobs throughout the country. The number of workers employed by Vietnamese investment projects is expected to rise to 65,000, according to the estimation of the association. The association also projects that Vietnamese investment in Laos will rise to US$6.3 billion in 2016 after the Lao and Vietnamese governments launched a policy to boost investment exchange as part of efforts to enhance the special relations of the two neighbouring countries. The Lao and Vietnamese governments have launched a number of incentives to boost bilateral trade value to US$2 billion a year by 2015. The bilateral trade values of the two countries reached US$1 billion at the end of 2013. Most of the goods which Laos exported to Vietnam were agricultural products, timbers and mineral commodities. Meanwhile the products which Laos imports from Vietnam include construction materials, machinery and fuel. It is said that, Lao and Vietnamese authorities to continue to create more favourable conditions so as more Vietnamese firms can invest in Laos. He said that one measure would be to improve important infrastructure in Laos such as airports, as it will make it more attractive to invest in the country. To pave the way for future investment, Vietnamese firms are active in providing help to Laos to improve its social welfare programmes such as the construction of hospitals. Hoang Anh Gia Lai Group has contributed US$30 million to social welfare programmes in Laos since it began to invest in the country some years ago.
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