Following the MoU clinched Tuesday Savimex and Laos’ Champasak Wood Processing Enterprise will establish a joint venture for the purpose.

The new entity, Savi-Shampasak Co., plans to build a factory to manufacture home adornments in Ba Chieng District.

Vietnam’s Savimex will invest US$1 million in the factory and hold a 52 percent stake.

The total investment for the facility was unavailable.

The project is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of next year.

The HCMC-listed Savimex will equip the factory with state-of-the-art wood processing technologies from Malaysia and dispatch managers to work there.

Also Tuesday, the Vietnam firm opened a two-month training course in Vietnam for 19 Champasak technicians and workers to prepare for the project.

The project comes part of Savimex’s business expansion strategy following which it set to inject over VND250 billion ($16 million) into new projects this year with a particular focus on real estate and furniture businesses.

Established in 1985, Savimex has been known as leading performer in woodwork processing for exports, home decorations and real estate sectors.

It reported sales of VND374 billion last year and set to raise the figure to VND415 billion this year.

Bilateral trade between Vietnam-Laos recorded $240 million in 2006, marking a year-on-year increase of 30 percent. The two countries are expected to reach $1 billion by 2010 on the back of the two governments’ efforts to push export-import activities.

Vietnam continues to stamp its mark on Laos's business environment and is now the third largest investor in the country behind Thailand and China, according to the Lao Committee for Planning and Investment.

Since Laos initiated its Investment Law in 1983, Vietnamese businesses have leapt into 106 projects at a cost of US$516 million, mainly in the fields of mining, hydropower and energy and agriculture.

Laos is hopeful that there are more to come, as insurance and securities offshoots under the state-run Vietnam Oil and Gas Group or PetroVietnam have recently concluded market studies on a number of proposed projects that are currently in the pipeline.

Besides this, the two countries have jointly implemented cooperation projects in rubber, coffee and hydro electricity sectors.

Source: Dau Tu – Compiled by Dong Ha