Vietnam has been increasing investment in Laos over the past years and is now the second largest among 55 investors in the country.
As of March 21 st , 2012, Vietnam had 212 projects invested in Laos with total a registered capital of US$3.45billion. Vietnamese investors mainly focus on the areas of energy, mining, agriculture and forestry.
The projects that are seen as examples for Vietnamese investment in Laos include the Laos-Vietnam Joint-Venture Bank, rubber tree plantations invested by Hoang Anh Gia Lai, sugar-cane plantations invested by the Vietnam Rubber Group and other rubber tree plantations invested by the Dak Lak Rubber Company.
Recently, Vietnamese businesses started to pour investment into local finance, banking, insurance and securities. So far there have been nine projects invested in these areas by Vietnamese large financial and banking institutions like BIDV, Sacombank, MB and PVN Insurance Company.
However, about one third of the Vietnamese projects that have been licensed have gone into low gear, while some have been shelved for various reasons.
Source: DTCK
Translated by Thu Nguyen