Laos opens to foreign investors: World Bank - Samakomlao Main

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TOPIC: Laos opens to foreign investors: World Bank

Anonymous

Date: Jun 11, 2008

Laos opens to foreign investors: World Bank	Permalink

SINGAPORE, June 10, 2008 (AFP) - Communist Laos, one of Asia's poorest countries, is opening to foreign investors in a bid to become a free market economy and boost its economic growth, a World Bank official said Tuesday.Patchamuthu Illangovan, the World Bank's country manager for Laos, said the country is on the right path to grow economically. "They are basically moving away from a very socialist economy to a more market economy," he said at a seminar organised by Singapore's trade promotion agency, International Enterprise Singapore. "Now they are beginning to realise the opportunities that are there" and were continuing on the path of trying to attract good investment, he said.The Laos economy is expected to grow between 7.5 and 7.7 percent in 2008, after a 7.5 percent increase in 2007 and 8.1 percent growth in 2006, he said. Illangovan said the effects of economic growth, and transformation in Laos is visible from shrinking poverty levels. "In 1995 the poverty level was 47 percent. In 2005 it was 31 percent. So we've seen a significant drop in poor people already," he said.The seminar hosted officials from the Lao government in a bid to promote business ties between Singapore and Laos. "Lao PDR (People's Democratic Republic) is embracing an open door policy," said Houmpheng Souralay, director general of the Laos government investment promotion department. Houmpheng highlighted several potential sectors such as tourism, mining and energy, to which Laos wants to attract foreign investment. With little industry, the government's single biggest economic hope has been a World Bank-backed hydro-electric project, the Nam Theun 2 dam, which is expected to feed power to Thailand from 2009. Laos currently runs nine hydropower projects whose exports account for 30 percent of its economy. Laos has fewer than six million people, about 80 per cent of whom work in agriculture. International development aid, mining, logging and tourism have made up the bulk of the 2.5-billion-dollar a year economy. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080610/tap-laos-business-economy-singapore-worl-06f3cb7.html __________________

Dek Por 1

Date: Jun 11, 2008

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It is time to open the doors to see the world in different perspects and cooperate with all the countries to build up economy __________________

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