“The government plans to promote traditional fabrics globally in collaboration with urban designers and traditional artists from across the country,” Boy said.

From June 20-24, participants will attend training and briefing sessions by several mentors in Jakarta. From June 27-July 2, they will go to selected regions to observe the problems faced by local citizens.

Students of the Jakarta Institute of Arts will also participate, he added.

Bekraf head Triawan Munaf said participants were expected to learn everything about the making of traditional fabrics, including cultural history. In return, urban workers were expected to encourage local people, with the help of each local administration, to market their products and promote them internationally.

“The main strength is the narrative behind the cultural products, whether about birth, funeral rites or other things. It makes the products more real and exotic,” Triawan said.

Held under the theme: “Asean Without Borders: A Roadmap for Strategic Development of Ecotourism Clusters and Tourism Corridors”, the forum will discuss and adopt a Pakxe declaration aiming to align the region’s ecotourism destinations.

The declaration will call for an Asean coordinated roadmap for both public and private sectors to pool resources and unlock economic opportunities along designated tourism corridors.

Quoting a 2015 World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report, Xinhua said the forum was initiated as ecotourism operators sought to increase their share of leisure travel spending in Southeast Asia which generated a total of US$158 billion in 2014 and was projected to rise to some US$285.5 billion by 2025.

A tourism official in charge of the event Somxay Sitpaseuth told Vientiane Times yesterday that “We are now ready to host the forum which should contribute to enhancing tourism cooperation in the region.”

Ecotourism aims to assist environmental protection, the sustainable use of natural and cultural resources and the delivery of measurable socio-economic benefits to local communities.

Ecotourism activities in Laos include trekking through conservation areas and communities to experience nature and the culture of local people.

Activities also include ziplining, homestays and others that contribute to raising awareness for communities to protect the natural and cultural heritage.

Laos has a population of 6.5 million people but the country is full of unspoiled, diverse ethnic lifestyles and traditions and perhaps the most extensive network of ecosystems on the Indochina Peninsula.

In place to protect and conserve these irreplaceable resources is a network of 20 National Protected Areas, often cited as one of the best designed Protected Area Systems in the world.

In 2015, the number of foreign visitors to Laos reached 4.6 million, representing an annual increase of 13 per cent, compared to the previous year.

The cost of large-scale maintenance, including 8-year checks, amounts to more than US$700,000 for a 2007 ATR aircraft and over $400,000 for a 2010 model in Singapore. In Malaysia, repairs on a 2012 ATR aircraft cost as much as $500,000.

The maintenance cost for an ATR aircraft in Myanmar is just over $100,000.

The factory will repair ATR aircraft from Myanmar as well as those from other countries.

A decision issued at the end of last year related to the development of supporting industries does not seem to be working well, he said.

Most Vietnamese companies in supporting industries are small or medium-sized and many lack funds to invest in modern technologies or human resource training, he said.

Since they do not know much about the policy or how to use it, it is not effective, he said.

According to a 2015 JETRO survey, the local sourcing ratio for Japanese companies in Vietnam is 32 per cent, much lower compared to China, or Thailand, he said.

JETRO has organised many business-matching events, exhibitions and others to boost co-operation between Vietnamese and Japanese firms in supporting industries for more than 10 years, he said.

4 supporting industry expos

On June 15 JETRO, the Investment and Trade Promotion Centre of HCM City (ITPC) and Reed Tradex Co., Ltd signed a contract to jointly organise four international supporting industry exhibitions, Metalex Vietnam, Industrial Components and Subcontracting Vietnam, Nepcon Vietnam and the Business Alliance for Support Industry in HCM City in early October.

Isara Burintramart, managing director of Thailand’s Reed Tradex Co., Ltd, said: “With more than 16,300 active FDI projects accounting for a total of US$238 billion, Vietnam is the destination of choice for foreign investors.”

Reed Tradex Co will organise machine tools and metalworking solutions exhibition Metalex Vietnam, Industrial Components and Subcontracting Vietnam, and measurement and testing technologies for electronics manufacturing exhibition Nepcon Vietnam.

JETRO and ITPC will organise “the Business Alliance for Supporting Industry in HCM City expo”, where Japanese manufactures will display parts, equipment and supporting services and Vietnamese suppliers will display their components and equipment.

The simultaneous organisation of the four expos would enable transfer of new technologies and expansion of business networks that are vital to sharpening the competiveness edges of supporting industry, Burintramart said.

Nguyen Tuan, deputy director of ITPC, said supporting industries are in the early stage of development in HCM City and Viet Nam.

Demand for supporting industries’ products is high and the potential for development these industries is huge, he said.

The city is drafting development policies for supporting industries, especially in high-tech industries, he added.

Compared with the same period last year, the credit surged 17.59 per cent.

Given this increase, experts expect the banking industry to meet the 18 per cent credit growth target this year.

Many new SMEs have been set up and the economy has improved, helping boost the firms’ capital needs, he said.

Tho believes Vietinbank could meet the lending quota set by the central bank as it often rises sharply in Q3 and Q4. However, Tho said, depending on market demands, the bank could adjust the target after making a proposal to the central bank.

Tran Van Tan, head of the Agriculture and Rural Development Credit Division, said the credit growth was made possible by the robust health of SMEs and their access to credit.

While still requiring commercial banks to support businesses, the central bank has recently directed that monetary policies give top priority to ensuring the safety of the banking system and controlling inflation.

“Credit institutions must balance their capital mobilisation sources and lending to ensure liquidity. Credit growth rates must be controlled in accordance with capital mobilisation and lending quotas allocated by the central bank to ensure safe credit growth and to help businesses with easier access to credit,” according to the central bank.

The central bank also asked commercial banks to be more careful with lending to industries that have witnessed high growth and high potential risks, such as real estate, Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Build-Transfer (BT) projects.

Banks to report monthly

State Bank of Vietnam has ordered credit institutions and branches of foreign banks to report their lending, capital mobilisation and interest rates in Vietnamese dong every month going forward.

The reports must be submitted to the central bank’s Monetary Policy Department on the 20th of every month, starting from June and lasting until the end of this year.

The move is aimed at cutting lending rates to support domestic businesses and production.

Many banks, such as ACB, Sacombank, VP Bank and Eximbank, have also lowered their deposit rates by roughly 0.1-0.2 per cent per year for the first time this year since the end of May.

This deposit interest rate reduction is expected to help banks further cut lending rates.

State Bank of Vietnam Governor Le Minh Hung recently pledged that the banking system would try to cut the lending rate by roughly 1 per cent this year.

The central bank also affirmed it would regulate the inter-bank rates in accordance with the market interest rate.

“Today our small family business is now able to produce about 500 blocks per day but once the modern technology is installed it will be able to turn out between 1,000 blocks to 1,500 blocks per day.”

“However we are now looking forward to obtaining certificates that certify production quality from Thailand and the relevant Lao government sectors,” he said.

“Nowadays when one wants to build a house, he or she will spend almost half the value of the house for contractors. If they use green blocks, it will take a shorter period of time to finish a building and therefore they will have to pay less money for workers,” Chantha said.

He explained that Lao people have known about the green blocks for a long time but most of them were imported from foreign countries for the construction of houses, hotels and other accommodation.

However many people still do not know this kind of product but soon they will as it is now being produced here in Laos, he added.

Currently, the company produces two different categories of blocks, including the Green Block and Super Strength Block (SSB). The prices range from 6,000 kip to 12,000 kip per block, depending on the size of the blocks.

The price is discountable when customers purchase a large quantity of blocks and the transport fare is inclusive.

Chantha is submitting documents to a university in Nakorn Rachasima province of Thailand, which is the original founder of foaming materials for green block production, to approve a quality certificate for the products manufactured by his factory.

“Another certificate is needed from the Lao government’s relevant sector, especially the Faculty of Architecture under the National University of Laos,” he said, noting that quality is a priority. The Green Block manufacturing company is located in Suanmone village in Sisattanak district, Vientiane.

The company also has a plan to open more block companies in several big provinces including Champassak, Savannakhet and Luang Prabang after receiving positive feedback from customers in Vientiane over the past few years.

“We still need to have more time working on quality improvements of our products to ensure our customers won’t spend much money because the blocks can last from 50 years to 100 years. Most importan tly, they are resistant to heat from outside,” Chantha said.

The Green Block production system is manufactured using Cellular Light Weight Concrete (CLC). The four essential components of Green Block are Portland Cement 52.2, sand, water, and a special foam compound.

Well-known cosmetic bands from other countries, especially Thailand, are already popular with local consumers but they still don’t know much about Korean beauty products, so the event gave Korean businesses the chance to connect with customers and expand into the Lao market.

Mr Oh-Hyoung Kwon explained the Korea Trade Promotion Corporation (KOTRA) had been assisting Korean companies to enter the Lao market since 2012 and investment has increased each year.

KOTRA has arranged various exhibitions and activities, aimed to promote Korean products to Lao people.

While food, consumer electronics and cars from the Republic of Korea are now widely accepted by local consumers, Korean cosmetics and health products have only been attracting interest in recent years. However, Korean firms believe there is substantial potential in developing products such as skin creams and makeup for Lao customers.

Korean TV series and culture are set to play a part in the promotions to encourage Lao people to use more cosmetic products.

The Republic of Korea is the sixth ranked country for investing in Laos, with some 257 projects that have a combined investment value of US$800 million. Trade volumes between the two countries reached US$199 million last year, with Lao exports to Korea valued at US$12 million and imports from the republic at US$187 million, according to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

Imports from the Republic of Korea have grown exponentially in recent years, on the back of growing demand for cars, electronic devices such as smartphones and household appliances.

The group would also set up research boards on free trade agreements to take up the initiative in building effective business and investment strategies, Truong said.

Vinatex has invested in developing supply chains from materials to finished products over the past year. After launching operations of the Kien Giang project in 2015, the group is completing the Phu Hung Fibre Plant and a yarn dyed cloth project.

The centre has had 10 customers for cotton and fibre and has been developing 30 customers for its products in Chile, China, Thailand, and Malaysia, in addition to South Korea.

Vinatex gained good business results last year with high growth rates from 7 per cent to 13 per cent from most of its large export markets. The group reported an export value of $2.37 billion and a pre-tax profit of VND628 billion last year.