HA NOI (VNS) — Viet Nam and Laos expect to increase two-way trade turnover to US$2 billion by 2015 and $5 billion by 2020.

According to Tran Bao Giam, Trade Counsellor at the Vietnamese Embassy in Laos, Vietnamese products currently account for 16.4 per cent of Laos' imports – particularly steel and iron, petrol, vehicles, machines and spare parts, coal and textiles.

Giam said that the biggest difficulties Vietnamese enterprises faced when entering the market were the small size of the Lao economy, poor transport infrastructure and an incomplete legal framework or policy foundation.

In addition, Vietnamese companies must do everything by themselves, from purchasing goods to transporting, delivering and marketing, due to the lack of supporting services and weak transport connections.

In order to promote exports to Laos, he added, Vietnamese businesses should diversify the range of products they offered and participate more in bidding for projects in the fields of infrastructure construction, industry, mining, agriculture-forestry and social development. — VNS