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ndonesia’s foreign office in Laos recently hosted an investment forum for Indonesian companies to tap into the land-locked Southeast Asia nation, seen as a potential market for investments.

The forum earned a good response from Lao companies, with around 40 business owners from Laos and Indonesia matching up to uncover business opportunities, the Indonesian Embassy said in a statement.

“The seminar, and the fact that Lao and Indonesian businesspeople are able to explore opportunities together, is expected to improve people-to-people contact and encourage Indonesian firms to invest abroad — especially in Laos,” said Pratito Soeharyo, Indonesian ambassador to Laos, in a press statement issued on Tuesday.

During the event, Indonesia’s Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) shared insights into Indonesia’s investment climate and laid out the government’s strategy to improve the country’s “Ease of Doing Business” ranking, the embassy said.

Representatives of PT Gresik Cipta Sejahtera and PT Enviro Total Solusi, Indonesian companies operating in the chemical industry and in environment solutions, respectively, were also on hand to promote their operations. The former even managed to strike an initial trade agreement with local miners Kaiyiuan Mining Sole Co. Ltd. for potassium chloride (KCL) worth up to US5.2 million annually, equal to 18,000 tons of KCL per year.