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Prime Minister of South Korea Hwang Kyo-ahn is paying an official visit to Laos from Sunday to Tuesday, agreeing on a framework to continue assisting Laos in socio-economic development.
South Korea has agreed on the framework for the provision of continued assistance for socio-economic development in Laos. According to local daily Vietntiane Times on Tuesday, the agreement was reached Monday during the visit of a high-ranking delegation from South Korea led by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn at the invitation of Lao Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong.
The cooperation framework signed during the visit included a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on South Korea's Official Development Assistance projects to Laos for 2016, and a low interest loan from the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) for the 2016-2019 period.
An official welcoming ceremony for the visiting South Korean prime minister was held at the Government Office in Lao capital Vientiane on Monday, followed by the bilateral meeting between the two prime ministerial delegations.
The South Korean prime minister also paid a courtesy call to President Choummaly Sayasone and President of the National Assembly Pany Yathortou.
According to Lao official news agency KPL, both sides expressed their satisfaction over the fact that the relations between the two countries have been constantly promoted over the past 20 years, highlighting that the cooperation in economics, trade, investment and tourism have grown at a relatively fast pace with South Korea ranking as the sixth biggest foreign investor in Laos with investment of more than 800 million U.S. dollars and totalling 257 projects.
In 2015, bilateral trade reached 199 million U.S. dollars with the export value from Laos to South Korea estimated at 12 million U.S. dollars and the imports to Laos estimated at 187 million U.S. dollars.
The cooperation in the tourism sector has enjoyed strong growth with over 292,700 Korean people visiting Laos between 2007 and 2014 including 96,085 Korean visitors to Laos reported last year.
The first six months of 2015 witnessed 86,088 Korean arrivals, an increase of 72 percent year on year.
South Korea ranked among biggest aid providers for Laos providing around 10 to 12 million U.S. dollars to Laos. The assistance from South Korea has increased on an annual basis.
