Vietnamese investors were licensed for 15 projects worth US$1.2 billion in the first half of this year, the diplomat said.

The figure had risen 10-fold from $120 million in the last year according to 2007-2008 fiscal year figures from the Laos Ministry of Planning and Investment – with Vietnam’s 21 projects in Laos making it the top foreign investor followed by China, Thailand and South Korea.

Over 60 Vietnamese investors in Laos attended the meeting and proposed that a Vietnamese Business Club be set up in the country and it also be a member of the Vietnam-Laos-Cambodia Association for Economic Cooperation and Development.