Officials of the Laos-Korea Friendship Association welcome a delegation from the Republic of Korea in Vientiane last Friday.

Laos, Korea seek business cooperation

The Laos-Korea Friendship Association and the Korea Venture Business Association (Kova) held a meeting in Vientiane last week to seek ways to boost cooperation, especially in the trade, investment and tourism sectors.
The meeting was held at the office of the Central Committee’s Commission for External Relations and the Lao side was led by the Executive Vice President of the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), Mr Daovone Phachanthavong, who is also Vice President of the Laos-Korea Friendship Association.
The Republic of Korean side was led by the General Manager of the Global Support Team at Kova, Mr Lee Sang Bae.
The meeting held consultations on a range of topics to find ways to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries through diplomatic channels, particularly in the trade, investment and tourism sectors.
The delegation from Kova included representatives from four Korean companies that specialise in IT, healthcare and e-commerce.
This meeting was an outcome of an agreement between the Laos-Korean Friendship Association and the Korean-Laos Friendship Association in late April. The two associations agreed to promote economic cooperation in fields such as trade, investment and tourism.
Recently, a one-year programme was organised by the Commercial Section of the Embassy of the Republic of Korea and KOTRA Vientiane, and it was supported by Daegu metropolitan city, the third largest city in South Korea after Seoul and Busan.
This allowed entrepreneurs from Laos and Daegu metropolitan city to explore ways to expand their cooperation in the Lao market through the “Daegu K-Product Access Programme”.
This programme is a special scheme for market testing of Korean products in Laos, and a pilot project was launched in 2021.
The programme aims to contribute to revitalising the economies of both countries after the Covid-19 pandemic, and to support the establishment of cooperative relationships, such as signing dealerships through new business development and product sourcing.

By Times Reporters
(Latest Update June 28, 2022)