More work needed to maximize business
More work needed to maximize business
Even though Laos has accomplished remarkable progress in the liberalisation of its goods and services sector, it still needs to tackle some challenges to maximise the opportunities for the business co mmunity.
The big challenge that Laos faces is to facilitate the integration process within the framework of the broader national and sectoral development agenda and engage the private sector in developing sound national policies and regulations.
With the Asean Economic Community looming in 2015, the issue is still a challenge for other member states as well, according to a report from the meeting.
The information was reported at a consultation workshop on the stocktaking of AEC implementation measures Laos has made in relation to trade in goods and services, held on May 30 in Vientiane.
The objective of the workshop was t o inform and discuss the progress of the implementation of Laos' Asean commitments covering all aspects of trade in goods and services, with all involved government agencies taking part.
The complexity and the fragmentation of the integration process make it very difficult to obtain a clear overview on the actual progress of implementation, according to officials involved.
An effective and timely implementation of the multitude of commitments requires a well-established monitoring system and sectoral intra-and interagency coordination.
Laos has been taking steps to further integrate with the world economy, with major progress made through the accession to regional and multilateral trade systems.
The implementation of AEC communities has progressed but a more strategic approach of both monitoring and follow-up of implementing Asean commitments will help to accelerate progress in this regards.
The integration of Laos into the AEC is one of the country's socio-economic priorities. Regional trade plays a major role for Laos: over two thirds of total Lao merchandise trade is done with Asean countries.
The AEC should transform Asean into a region with free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour and freer flow of capital.
The Asean Member States agreed in the AEC Blueprint on the strategy for the ambitious implementation of AEC by 2015.
The commitments include tariff reduction, improving the institutional framework for trade facilitation, compliance in the area of standards and progressively opening service subsectors for cross-border supply and foreign investment.
This stock-taking facilitates the mapping of future milestones and contributes to improving the effective coordination among all sectoral bodies in both the planning and implementation stages towards AEC.
The workshop was chaired by Minister of Industry and Commerce Dr Nam Vinhaket with 50 representatives from different ministries participating in the discussion.
It was organised in the framework of the Lao-German cooperation programme “Supporting Laos' Integration into Regional Markets”
The workshop was jointly organised by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce's Foreign Trade Policy Department and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.
vientiane times
