LAOS AND VIETNAM BANKS FORM JOINT INSURANCE VENTURE

The Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) and the Commercial Bank of Laos have teamed up to form Laos Vietnam Insurance, the first joint venture with an overseas partner to be established by a Vietnamese institution. The new company will have an initial capital base of $3 million, with BIDV contributing 51% of this total, and will concentrate on providing insurance coverage for Vietnamese projects and investments based in Laos. The joint venture follows the recent agreement struck between Vietnam and Laos to accelerate the level of economic development and co-operation between the two countries with a pledge to bring the level of two-way trade revenues between Vietnam and Laos to $5 billion by 2020.