Communist Laos allows foreign investors to own land
Communist Laos has invited foreigners who have invested at least half a million dollars into the landlocked country to purchase property from the state, media reports said Tuesday.
Guidelines to a law allowing foreign investors to own land were publicized last week, the state-owned Vientiane Times reported.
Foreigners who have invested at least 500,000 dollars in Laos will be permitted to purchase a maximum of 800 square metres of land from the state, but are prohibited from purchasing land from individual Lao citizens or enterprises, it reported.
"Lao people would also be at risk of losing their land if the government allowed foreign investors to buy land directly from individuals," the newspaper noted.
The government approved the law permitting foreign investors to purchase land for residential or factory use last year.
Under the new guidelines, foreigners must make their land purchase proposals to municipal or provincial land-management authorities, who would submit them to "provincial leaders for consideration."
Laos has been under Communist Party rule since 1975. It began to open up to foreign trade and investment in the late 1980s.
