HANOI: Trade between Vietnam and Laos in the first 10 months of this year hit US$940 million.
According to Vietnam News, the two-way trade was projected to reach between US$1.1 billion and US$1.2 billion by year end, marking a 12.6 per cent increase from last year.
The figures, which were released at a cabinet meeting here, also surpassed the US$1 billion target set by the Vietnamese government.
Vietnam is the third biggest investor in Laos, with 413 projects worth US$4.22 billion and joint ventures involving Viettel, the Vietnam Rubber Group, Mường Thanh Hotel, the Crown Plaza, LaoViet Bank and the Xekaman 1 Hydropower Plant.
Reports said Vietnam had committed to providing US$139.8 million in non-refundable aid to Laos from 2016 to next year.
It is aimed at helping the neighbouring country implement infrastructure projects in transport, energy, personnel training and social welfare.
Early this year, Vietnam provided 300 tonnes of seed to Laos to support locals hit by natural disasters, while more than 1,000 scholarships had been granted to Laotian students.
Vietnam had also dispatched teachers to Laos and financed Vietnamese language teaching courses in the country.
This year, five Vietnamese-funded projects in Laos had been completed and two others have been launched.
During the meeting, cabinet members highlighted the slow capital disbursement of the projects, along with bottlenecks in procedures.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and cabinet members called for the speeding up of the implementation of the work. They also prepared for the Vietnam-Laos Inter-Governmental Committee meeting in January.
At a separate conference between the two nations in the central province of Nghe An, delegates discussed ways to nurture bilateral relations and friendship and share experiences in ethnic work between the two countries.
Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh said the conference was another chance for the two countries to boost ties between ethnic groups living along the sides of the Truong Son mountain range.
Lao Front for National Construction’s Central Committee president Saysomphone Phomvihane said the traditional and lasting friendship between the two countries had become exemplary and a rare model in international relations.
Presentations at the conference touched on easing poverty and sustainable development in mountainous and ethnic minority areas, lessons on preservation and bringing into play traditional values of the ethnic minority communities along the Vietnamese-Laotian border.