A fruit vendor sells mangos on a street in downtown Vientiane
© AFP/File Hoang Dinh Nam

HANOI (AFP) - Vietnam's Planning and Investment Ministry has submitted to Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung plans for "Vietnam's largest ever investment project abroad" in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, said the state-run Vietnam News Agency (VNA).

The project's investor, the Long Thanh Golf Investment and Business Joint Stock Company, said it planned to realise the capital from shareholders, domestic and foreign partners and through bank loans, said VNA.

According to the ministry, Vietnam is the largest foreign investor in Laos with 146 projects worth 1.5 billion dollars, said the official news agency.

In the first 11 months of 2008, Vietnamese companies invested in 52 projects in Laos with total registered capital of 450 million dollars -- more than half of it for hydro-power plants and about one third for tree plantations, it said.

©AFP