Vietnamese firms invested in 252 projects in Laos in the decade between 2000 and 2010, worth a total of about US$2.77 billion and putting Viet Nam ahead in the country’s foreign investor rankings for the first time in a decade, the newsletter said.

Chinese firms have invested in 397 projects worth about $2.71 billion over the past decade, putting them in second place, while Thailand invested in 276 projects worth $2.68 billion.

“The value of Vietnamese investment has exceeded that of China and Thailand since the end of last year,” the deputy director of the Investment Department, Manothong Vongsay, told theVientiane Times newspaper last week.

In recent years, Vietnamese firms have embarked on a number of mining and hydropower projects in Laos, causing investment by the country to increase rapidly.

“Another one of Viet Nam’s major projects is a $1 billion golf course development in Vientiane,” Vongsay said.

Laos amended and promulgated its Law on Foreign Investment Promotion in early 2010 aiming to attract more foreign firms to non-resources sectors. The law offers a number of investment incentives including tax breaks and the right to own residential land in Laos.

The law also created a one-stop service for foreign firms seeking investment licences in Laos and accelerated the process of approval for investment proposals.

The surge in investment also followed an agreement between Laos and Viet Nam to boost bilateral trade to $1 billion by 2010, $2 billion by 2015, and $5 billion by 2020.