Trade and investment climate can be further improved
Trade and investment climate can be further improved
Trade facilitation and how the business and investment environment in Laos can be improved in order to stimulate growth especially in non-resource sectors was a topic of recent discussions.
The third trade and private sector working group meeting was held on Tuesday in Vientiane to discuss the way forward in regard to the issues, following up on the second one held last October.
The event was chaired by Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Ms Khemmani Pholsena, German Ambassador to Mr Robert Von Rimscha, and Mr Michel Goffin, EU Charge'de Affairs and Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) Donor Facilitator for Laos.
The Ministry of Industry and Commerce reported that it has achieved many tangible results in the area of regional and international trade integration such as the WTO accession in February this year and significant progress in the ongoing negotiations towards the Asean Economic Community in the next two years.
Further, the ministry has implemented an ambitious trade programme with the objective to enhance trade facilitation and export competitiveness, according to a press release from the ministry.
These activities have been financed by the trade development facility (TDF), a multi-donor trust fund and the EIF, it was noted in a press release.
Ms Khemmani Pholsena announced that the results of the recent independent evaluation of the trade development facility were “very positive and encouraging”. The evaluation relied on extensive interviews with implementing agencies, beneficiaries and other stakeholders, she said.
“The TDF is a great example where the government, the private sector and the donor community work hand in hand on trade and private sector development in Laos,” Ms Khemmani said.
The World Bank and GIZ presented two studies on the key preliminary findings of the latest investment climate assessment and the results of the 2011 enterprise survey.
Both surveys provided important insights on key binding constraints that impede the growth of firms in the manufacturing and service sectors and discussed necessary policy actions to address those constrain ts.
Ambassador Von Rimscha stressed that both studies indentify a shortage of skilled labour as harming the diversification of the Lao economy. “If one wants to help the private sector in Laos, three things are needed: education, education, education,” he said.
vientiane times
