Laos must do more to facilitate business operations, UK ambassador says
Laos must do more to facilitate business operations, UK ambassador says
Asean has done quite well in terms of preparations for economic integration while Laos is now making positive progress in its preparations for the AEC by the end of 2015, according to the British Ambassador to Laos Philip Malone.
The British Ambassador spoke with Vientiane Times at the half-half day forum to raise awareness on Laos’ “Trade agreements under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Asean Economic Community (AEC).
“But there is more to be done over the one year remaining, especially regarding some regulations and facilitation for businesses in Laos,” he said.
The forum was a platform to discuss opportunities and challenges among company representatives and the government’s trade officials.
It also aimed to assist the Lao business community by providing it with a better understanding of trade negotiations and agreements under the WTO and AEC.
“On the other hand, Laos still needs to do more with human resource development as well as organising capacity building sessions,” he said, adding that the UK gained valuable experience through the preparation for the European Union integration.
“By having an open market to the membership of the WTO, there would be a lot more challenges related to competition and local companies will need to work hard to compete with companies from other countries.”
The AEC is set to have a single market and one production base where the Asean members and other trade partners around the world are looking forward to benefit from this huge potential.
Mr Malone said that the UK also intends to assist the Lao government and the business community by sharing information and experience related to the economic integration and other necessary tools.
“Obviously, when business looks at a country, it initially looks at the rules and regulations which are implemented in an open and transparent way and eventually it will increase the number of businesses and investments,” he added.
By engaging the private sector, business students and other stakeholders, the forum created a platform for interaction and the exchange of ideas and experience related to economic integration.
Many guest speakers were invited to deliver their lessons learnt and experiences related to export activities to other countries as well as some of the barriers related to export policies and documents required by exporters.
The forum was co-organised by the British Embassy to Laos and the Foreign Trade Policy Department under the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC).
The department’s Deputy Director General Dr Laohoua Cheuching, who also co-chaired the forum, said the participants were set to better understand the impacts of the WTO and AEC trade agreements on their businesses.
“Currently we have not yet faced any impacts in terms of economic integration, however we need to be well-prepared ahead of the years to come,” he said, saying that the Lao business community must also examine both domestic and regional competition.
The AEC is expected to come into existence at the end of 2015 as it is supposed to be one of the world’s biggest markets with a combined population of more than 600 million people and a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around US$2.4 trillion.
