Tariff slashed by half on some Laos imports

Hanoi (VNA) - A variety of goods imported directly from Laos will benefit
from a 50 percent tax cut until 2013, according to a circular issued by the Ministry
of Finance recently.

Circular 80/2009/TT-BTC states that the import tax reduction will be applied to
rice, sugar, eggs, and poultry and its by-products originating from Laos .

Only goods imported directly from Laos to Vietnam through 17 border gates
specified by the trade ministries of Vietnam and Laos will be eligible for
the tax reduction.

The circular indicates that automobiles, motorbikes, mobile phones, weapons,
petroleum, tobacco, pharmaceuticals and chemicals will not benefit from the tax
break.

Currently, many goods traded between Laos and Vietnam are exempt from import
tax thanks to a preferential import-export tax agreement signed earlier this year.


Under the agreement, 87 Vietnamese products are not taxed by Laos , including
unprocessed vegetables, processed fruits, apparel and home furnishings.

In turn, Vietnam does not apply tax on 16 varieties of Lao goods.

Last year, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Laos reached roughly 450
million USD, a 44 percent surge over 2007.

In 2008 Vietnam earned 136.4 million USD in exports to Laos , mainly from
garments, coal, electrical wire and cable, and plastic products, representing a
year-on-year rise of 41.7 percent.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade targeted 1 billion USD in annual bilateral
trade between the two countries by 2010 and 2 billion USD by 2015. It also
predicted the figure could rise to 5 billion USD by 2020.-Enditem