VIENTIANE, May 25 (Xinhua) -- The Lao government has instructed relevant sectors to study the establishment of a Lao joint state-private company to join its Vietnamese counterpart to develop a seaport in central Vietnam, a government spokesman said.
The instruction was made at the two-day monthly cabinet meeting for May that closed on Tuesday at the Prime Minister's Office, local daily Vientiane Times on Thursday quoted government spokesman Chaleun Yiapaoher as saying at a press conference after the meeting.
The move came after the governments of Laos and Vietnam signed a deal in April 2017 to jointly develop the planned Vung Ang seaport project in Vietnam's central Ha Tinh province.
The deal was among nine cooperation agreements signed during the official visit to Laos in April by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Once the seaport project is realized, it will enable landlocked Laos to access sea trade routes, said the report.
A Lao official of the Inland Waterways Transport Department, under the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, told Vientiane Times that the project was still in the early stages and more details needed to be sorted out.
