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Key facts about Laos
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Key facts about Laos

Dec 18 (Reuters) - After decades of isolation, communist Laos is on a drive to court foreign investors to tap its natural resources and energy potential and steer the country out of poverty by 2020.

 

Here are some key facts about Laos:

 

-- Landlocked Laos, wedged between China to the north, Vietnam in the east, Cambodia to the south, Thailand in the west and Myanmar in the northwest, occupies an area of 237,000 sq km (91,500 sq miles). Its estimated population of 6.4 million is mainly Buddhist. Vientiane is the capital.

 

-- Independence was restored with the end of French rule in 1953. After the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese-backed Pathet Lao replaced the monarchy with a communist government in 1975.

 

-- The country has since run as a one-party system, with decisions taken by a highly cohesive 11-member politburo of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. The president and prime minister are chosen by parliamentarians elected by the people from among 190 candidates hand-picked by the ruling party.

 

-- Laos elected a new 132-member national assembly in April, with many new members said to be younger and better educated than before. It said voter turnout was 99.6 percent. The legislature in June chose President Choummaly Sayasone to serve a second term.

 

-- Laos has no plans for any significant reforms to its one-party socialist system but is seeking to boost its tiny economy, to attract much-needed enterprise and investment. It remains one of the poorest in Asia with a gross domestic product per capita of $1,200. Twenty-seven percent of citizens are below the national poverty line and many live on about $1 per day.

-- A member of the Association of South East Asian Nations, Laos is keen to expand its $7.5 billon economy and shed its status as one of the world's poorest countries by 2020. Copper and gold mining and hydropower energy are its biggest sectors and its dominant trade partners are its neighbours; Thailand, China and Vietnam. In the past 10 years, Vietnam has invested $2.77 billion, China $2.71 billion and Thailand $2.68 billion in Laos, according to official data.

http://af.reuters.com/article/idAFL3E7NI0J420111218



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Anonymous

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continued  Key facts about Laos

- It wants to become the "battery of Southeast Asia" through its hydropower expansion and is aiming to generate 28,000 MW of power and create 8 percent of the region's electricity by 2025. It has is already committed to supplying 7,000 MW to Thailand, 5,000 MW to Vietnam, and 1,500 MW to Cambodia by 2015. It has constructed 10 hydropower dams and plans to build 60 more. The issue is of major concern to countries of the lower Mekong River, like Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia, which fear Lao dams could cause major food security crises as a result of decreases in fish stocks and degradation of agricultural land.

-- In January 2011, Laos opened the world's newest, and perhaps smallest, stock market, the Lao Securities Exchange (LSX), with two listed firms. Trade volume on the opening day was just 2.14 billion kip ($265,000). Two more firms plan to list in early 2012 and three more by 2015.

 

-- The economy is projected to grow between 8.1 and 8.6 percent this year. Laos is aiming for growth of 8 percent a year over the next five years, 50-56 percent from foreign direct investment. Growth has averaged 7.9 percent since 2006 according to official statistics. Analysts say the best opportunities for foreign investors are in telecoms, tourism, financial services and agriculture.

 

-- Vietnam remains Laos's biggest political ally and economic model. Its political system is similar to that of its neighbour, which is a big investor and provider of aid and expertise.

 

-- China has courted Laos heavily in recent years, offering big loans to develop infrastructure, which would give China strategic access to Southeast Asian markets. Among the projects planned is a $7 billion high speed rail link from southern China, through Laos, to northeast Thailand. (Compiled by Martin Petty; Editing by Robert Birsel)



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