Executives of Vientiane Logistics Park, representatives from JETRO and Japanese investors gather for group photo.

Japanese trade delegation visits Vientiane Logistics Park to learn about trade and investment opportunities

Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) representatives on November 16 visited the Vientiane Logistics Park and its Thanaleng Dry Port to learn about trade and investment opportunities.

The visit by JETRO’s Manufacture Investment Mission brought Japanese business executives to Laos’ first-ever integrated logistics hub being developed in Vientiane on the border with Thailand. The Japanese trade delegation made the visit after Vientiane Logistics Park Co., Ltd. and JETRO signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the Lao capital in March last year, to jointly promote Japanese investment in the logistics park where a number of incentives including tax breaks are being offered. Welcoming the guests, Mr Sila Viengkeo, Executive Vice President of Board of Trade and Regulation of Pacific Trust Link Holding Company Limited (PTL) – the mother company of Vientiane Logistics Park Co., Ltd. -said the group’s visit to learn about trade and investment potential would help to grow economic relations between Laos and Japan. He explained that the logistics park and dry port are part of the Lao government’s strategy and the Lao Logistics Link (LLL) project to transform landlocked Laos into a land-linked country with connections to the region and the rest of the world.

A crane lifts containers from a train at Thanaleng Dry Port. (File Photo)

The Executive Vice President said he believed the group’s visit would result in more Japanese investment in the Vientiane Logistics Park.
Managing Director of the Thanaleng Dry Port, Sakhone Pilangam, said priority is given to Japanese businesses wishing to invest in the logistics park and dry port. 
The reason for this is that the Japan International Cooperation Agency was instrumental in developing the Lao master plan on the logistics system recommended to develop the dry port, and the initial feasibility study was later carried out by a Japanese company. The Japanese gave the Lao developer the green light to go ahead with the project, and the Lao developer pledged to give priority to Japanese investors.
Opening for service in December last year, the multimodal-transport-mode infrastructure houses extensions of the Laos-China and Laos-Thailand railway lines, making Laos an important gateway between Southeast Asian countries and China and beyond. 
In the first nine months of this year, as many as 41,000 containers (holding import, export and transit goods) passed through the multimodal dry port.
Mr Sakhone said the US$727 million project, being built on 382 hectares of land, offers business opportunities through its five zones - the dry port, tank farms, logistics park, free trade zone, and export processing zone.
“Investing in these zones, [entrepreneurs] can enjoy tax breaks for somewhere between 8-16 years, depending on the type of investment,” he told the guests, adding that value-added tax is also exempt.
The visiting guests were led by JETRO’s Executive Vice President, Aoyama Shigetoshi.
Laos as a least developed country also enjoys trade privileges given by many major economies, including the European Union, which permit made-in-Laos products to enter their markets with a tariff exemption.    
Mr Sakhone told the guests that webinars have been held to encourage Japanese investors to set up business in the Vientiane Logistics Park following the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation last year.

By Advertorial Desk
 (Latest Update November 22, 2022)