Laos and Vietnam are pushing to take their economic partnership to the next level, with both countries targeting USD 4 billion in bilateral trade in 2026.
The goal follows a strong year for trade, with two-way trade reaching USD 3.196 billion in 2025, up 12 percent from the previous year.
The two sides also set a longer-term goal of reaching USD 10 billion in bilateral trade by 2030.
Lao Minister of Industry and Commerce Malaythong Kommasith and Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Le Manh Hung discussed the target during a meeting in Hanoi on 31 July to review their ministries’ annual cooperation plan.
The two countries recorded USD 1.305 billion in trade during the first half of 2026, with stronger cross-border trade, tourism, and infrastructure projects driving economic links.
Both ministers agreed to improve trade cooperation by strengthening border trade policies, connecting logistics networks, and creating better conditions for businesses from both countries to invest and expand.
Energy
Energy security also took center stage during the talks.
Laos and Vietnam agreed to pursue government-to-government (G2G) fuel procurement and supply arrangements to secure long-term fuel supplies. They also agreed to continue advancing the Laos-Vietnam fuel pipeline connection project, which remains under feasibility study.
The push follows a severe fuel crisis that struck Laos earlier in 2026, when the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Middle East conflict disrupted oil flows through a waterway carrying more than a fifth of the world’s oil supply. By mid-March, roughly 1,068 of Laos’s 2,538 filling stations had shut down, and Vietnam stepped in with 50 million liters of emergency fuel that month.
Building on that cooperation, the two sides also agreed to advance the Laos-Vietnam fuel pipeline connection project, which Lao Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone raised at the government’s Cabinet meeting in July 2026. The project remains in the feasibility study stage.
On mining, officials agreed to strengthen cooperation, resolve investment bottlenecks in Laos’ industrial sector, and establish mineral processing industrial parks.
