Friday, June 08, 2007
RP, Laos sign investment promotion agreement (9:30 p.m.)
MANILA -- The Philippines and Laos hope to perk up bilateral economic ties with an investment promotion agreement concluded in Manila on Friday, officials said.
The accord was signed following talks between Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Laotian Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, who was on the second day of his three-day state visit.
There are currently no investments by either country, and trade between the two members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been very minimal and erratic, Philippine Trade Secretary Peter Favila said.
"We are the bigger and richer country so they are inviting us to invest," he said.
He said Laos invited the Philippines to invest in its copper mining industry.
Philippines exports to Laos, mostly consumer goods, went down from to $721,246 (euro535,446) in 2005, to $451,685 (euro335,326) last year. There were no Laotian exports to the Philippines during the last two years, Philippine officials said.
Arroyo visited Laos in November 2004 to attend that year's Asean summit. Bouphavanh attended last year's meeting in the central Philippine city of Cebu.
Diplomatic relations between the Philippines and Laos began in 1949. The two governments conducted diplomacy through their embassies in Thailand and Vietnam until 1997, when Laos joined the Asean and they established their foreign missions in each other's capital.
Asean also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam. (AP)
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