Star Telecom is a joint venture between Laos Asia Telecom and Viet Nam's Viettel Group. Viettel and its Laotian partner launched a mobile phone network, called Unittel, in Laos in 2009.— VNS File Photo

HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam continued to be among the top three investors in Laos, with more than 400 projects valued at US$5 billion, heard a conference yesterday in Vientiane.

The conference was jointly held by the Embassy of Viet Nam to Laos and the Association of Viet Nam Investors into Laos (AVIL), aiming to speeding up the implementation of Vietnamese projects in Laos.

Cooperation between the two countries has improved across sectors including diplomacy, security, economics, trade and investment in line with a high-level agreement between the two Parties.

A number of Vietnamese projects have been put into operation in Laos, contributing to the country's economic development and creating thousands of jobs for Laotians.

Minister Counsellor of Viet Nam to Laos, Tran Manh Cuong, said that despite these successes, there remained a number of challenges facing Vietnamese investors in Laos. Removing these barriers would help lure more Vietnamese investors, said Cuong.

Vietnamese investors at the conference urged for simpler administrative procedures, better credit access and the establishment of an overriding investment strategy by 2020.

In addition, the State management should be tightened to weed out inferior or infeasible projects.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Laos Nguyen Manh Hung said that obstacles and measures to boost Vietnamese investment in the country would be raised at the intergovernmental meeting scheduled for the end of December this year.

Tran Bac Ha, president of AVIL has previously said that Viet Nam's direct investment into Laos aimed to reach $6.3 billion by 2015. — VNS