Our company extended our Jatropha-based bio-energy business activities from China to Laos in December 2007.

Similar to Hainan, the climate and agronomy of Laos are highly suitable for the cultivation of Jatropha curcas. Moreover, Laos offers sufficient inexpensive land and farm labor to support the mass cultivation of Jatropha. Our company’s presence in Laos will provide a strong foundation for developing and commercializing the Jatropha-based bio-energy sector in Laos and for similar activities in other Greater Mekong sub-region (“GMS”) countries.

In March 2008, Lao-Agro Promotion (“Lao-Agro”), a joint venture company set up by the Company and its partner in Laos, entered into a cooperation agreement with the Lao National Authority for Science and Technology (“NAST”) to establish three commercially-based research and development and training centers for the production of commercially and environmentally sustainable Jatropha-based bio-energy as an alternative and renewable energy source. This new business venture in Laos marks the company’s first initiative into the GMS. We believe that the cooperation with NAST will help Lao-Agro to develop optimal species of Jatropha curcas for commercializing Jatropha production in Laos, and help to establish Lao-Agro as a highly recognized and dependable Jatropha producer throughout the GMS.

We aim to develop a 75-hectare Jatropha nursery and 15,000 hectares of Jatropha plantation by 2008.

Technological Partnership with Lao National Authority for Science and Technology

The Lao National Authority for Science and Technology (“NAST”) is a government-backed research institute. NAST will cooperate with Lao-Agro to establish three research and development and training centers for the commercial and environmentally sustainable cultivation of Jatropha in Laos.

NAST will provide geographically-specific expertise and knowledge to optimize a Jatropha varietal for growth conditions in Laos and to construct an agricultural protocol best suited for the sustained commercial development of Jatropha curcas as a bio-diesel crop in the Laos.