Vietnam eyes more trade with Laos

Vietnam has eyed one billion U.S. dollars in 2010 and two billion dollars in 2015 in two-way trade with Laos, local newspaper People reported Monday.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung made the remarks at the 29th working session of the Vietnam-Laos Cooperation Joint Committee in Hanoi capital on Sunday.

Besides the biggest trade targets, enterprises of the two countries should join hands in growing 100,000 hectares of rubber trees in Laos by 2010, creating 300,000 jobs, said the minister.

He called on the two sides to accelerate the implementation of projects on electricity, mineral exploration, telecommunications, transport and banking, and the development of border gates.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad said the trade between the two countries rose 48 percent to 240 million dollars in 2006.

At the session, the two ministers signed an agreement on economic, commercial, cultural, scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries in 2007.

Source: Xinhua