Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Laotian counterpart Somsavat Lengsavad witnessed the signing ceremony. The agreement will mean exemption of import and value-added tax for a number of goods originating from and traded between the two nations. This also includes reduction of technical barriers when it comes to inspecting products made or grown by Vietnamese investors in Laos in order to serve the Vietnamese market. The two sides further determined the border gates between Vietnam and Laos that would be opened for border trade. In the first 6 months of this year, Vietnam-Laos trade turnover reached nearly 7 hundred million USD. 2014’s year-end saw this figure reach 1.3 billion - a fourteen percent jump from the previous year.
