♪ ♪ laos has enjoyed constant economic growth of over 7.5% over the past ten years.

this has created new jobs and a demand for various types of workers. a continual flow of migrants had been entering the country. huge numbers arrived from neighboring vietnam every year. many of the vietnamese migrants are skilled workers. they leave their competitive homeland with dreams of becoming wealthy in laos. some started with very little but have achieved great success. others moved to laos with their families from poor farming villages and launched their own businesses.

with the asean economic community being established later this year, we follow vietnamese migrants in laos as they search for prosperity. laos is landlocked between five countries at the cross-roads of southeast asia. customs and immigration at each border have become crowded with people and vehicles transporting goods. the number of tourists to the country has also jumped fourfold in the last decade.

>> i'm from singapore. i don't understand thai.

>> for members of the asean economic community, most tariffs and visa requirements are expected to be lifted later this year. laos has been busily establishing transportation networks and special economic zones. exports have already surged more than sixfold compared with 2004. while imports have jumped more than fourfold.

the laotian capital of vientiane is visibly changing amidst the development. foreign-owned office buildings and shopping malls are now a common sight around the city. the most conspicuous are companies from vietnam. laos's largest investor. sisangvone road in northeastern vientane has seen a surge in vietnamese residents over the past ten years. vietnamese working for vietnamese firms and on construction sites were the first migrants here.

soon stores offering food, goods, and other services catering to the workers began popping up. mostly staffed by vietnamese from poorer regions.

five years ago an upmarket vietnamese restaurant opened on sisangvone road offering royal court cuisine from the ancient vietnamese capital of huyei. he as well as vietnamese customers, wealthy laotians and dignitaries also eat here. prices are more than triple that of typical laotian restaurants.

the main attraction is the fresh seafood delivered directly from vietnam. a rare treat in land-locked laos. the kitchen staff were brought in especially from vietnam. they're experts when it comes to preparing seafood. the rernd owes its success in part to improved infrastructure. thanks to new roads, fresh seafood, not frozen, can be delivered overnight from vietnam.

the restaurant owner from huyei, khamweng rattanatray, wanted to capitalize on the new roads and believed a fresh seafood restaurant would have huge potential. khamweng first came to laos in 1992, a time when vietnam was still an asean observer state and had yet to resume diplomatic

dialogue with the u.s. khamweng crossed the border with dreams of becoming a success in southeast asia. he struggled at first but was eventually able to find stable work in 2006. when laos's annual economic growth began to surpass 7% per year.

khamweng also plans to find other businesses and products lacking in laos and continue expanding. the development of special economic zones is a key focus of the laotian government. especially industrial complexes that can attract domestic and foreign investment and can give birth to new industries. vitae park was one of the first special economic zones to be built in vientane. nearby a joint venture between laos and vietnam was established four years ago, taking advantage of its prime location.

saisana joint stock company limited buys and recycles scrap iron collected from factories, companies, and households. until now such firms could only be found in vietnam or thailand. and there was nothing like this in laos. the factory processes scrap iron into construction materials and other items and then sells what it makes. last year it processed more than 10,000 times. the engineers and skilled workers are all vietnamese. company director khamlo

khamlon sengsavone used to power procure iron in vietnam and sell it in laos. he came up with the idea for this business after the laotian economy began to grow, producing mass amounts of scrap iron. his plan was to take advantage of a nascent construction boom and reprocess locally collected scrap iron to turn it into low-cost construction materials.

the pay workers can earn at the factory is slightly higher than vietnam. we met a young vietnamese man who came to laos five years ago with no funding or special skills. he now runs his own business. kim hieu hieo is the third son

of a farmer. hieo is a junk and scrap metal dealer. right after he got married his father-in-law said he should come to laos to start a junk dealing business. but because selling junk in vietnam is covered by a strict license system, hieo initially felt that starting such an enterprise in a foreign land was completely unrealistic, especially after only graduating from junior high school. after arriving in loose, however, it was easier for him than he managed. and he began building a business

from the unwanted items that wealthy laotians were throwing away. 's began collecting from home to home, hieo taught himself the laotian language and learned about the items he was buying. word soon spread that he would pick up and pay for unwanted stuff from homes. something that had been unheard of before in laos. these days he gets calls directly from new customers.

hieo can now negotiate in laotian, and after some bargaining he finally comes to an agreement with the customer. today he's collected roughly two tons of scrap metal, which will earn him around the same amount a factory worker would make in four days. h imt eo worked hard after arriving from vietnam and later bought a truck to beat rivals collecting by bicycle. business really picked up, and in a year he was able to buy another vehicle. hieo currently leases a 400 square--meter plot of land in

vietane which houses his home and factory. a year ago he expanded his business and now has two employees. he also invited his wife's sister's family to move from vietnam. with the scrap taking up so much space, hieo hopes to rent a bigger plot of land next year. hieo's father-in-law, nguyen dinh hung, was the one who convinced him to move to loose. hung was also a poor vietnamese farmer who was having trouble making a living on agriculture. he came to laos seven years ago and felt the country provided many opportunities.

hieo plans to send his children to college. something he could never have imagined before. seafood restaurateur khamweng is on his way to check the progress of a new venture. it's located 30 minutes from central vientane by car.

khamweng's looking to expand into the real estate market. his focus is on homes that target the very rich. this property will have over ten rooms and sits on an expansive 900 square-meter plot of land. there will be a large swimming pool and a jacuzzi on the grounds. the market price for such au.s.. experienced builders from vietnam have been brought up for the construction.

khamweng believes he can beat any overseas competitors if he can quickly identify domestic needs in laos and turn them into a business.

for khamweng, who's long dreamed of making it big in southeast asia, the establishment of the asean economic community is the opportunity he's been waiting for. at a car repair shop the shop owner wants to sell him a used car lift. if cleaned up and polished, it could be sold off for a

substantial sum. the man purchased the lift after being told it was made in japan. he wants to sell it whyte while it still works so he can use the money to buy a newer model. but hieo suddenly stops what he's doing. he's noticed a label on the machine.

hieo contemplates the deal but eventually decides to call it off.

finally hieo and his men return the lift to its original spot, apologize for not buying it, and leave.

it's a regular afternoon at the vientane southern terminal for long-distance buses. buses arrive from all parts of vietnam 20 times a day. vietnamese continue flooding into laos instead of wealthier countries in search of success. after the asean economic community is established, the dynamics will undoubtedly continue to change in southeast asia.

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♪ hello there. welcome to "newsline." it's thursday february 26th. i'm catherine kobayashi in tokyo. members of the islamic state militant group have been recruiting people from around the world to join their battle. now authorities from the united states have charged three men with conspiring to support the group. investigators believe two of them were planning to travel to syria to fight. one of the men is 19 and is from kazakhstan. the others age 24 and 30 are from uzbekistan. all of them liven