Laos' economy will grow along with its neighbours, expert says
Laos' economy will grow along with its neighbours, expert says
Laos has much to do in terms of improving regulations and eliminating tariffs to ensure the country enjoys socio-economic growth in the coming years, according to a Vietnamese lecturer.
Delivering a lecture on ‘key essentials to compete and benefit from the AEC', President of the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences Prof. Dr Nguyen Xuan Thang said Laos, along with Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, has a five year plan in place that will cut tariffs to zero percent.
“Our four countries will do a lot of things to ensure we match the standards and systems of other Asean state members, especially in terms of improving regulations in each country,” he said, noting that changes to the regulations would also depend on the AEC Blueprint.
He also praised the impressive growth of the Asean economy last year which he said was obviously booming, especially in Myanmar and Laos.
Asean has broad markets in the areas of tourism, goods, labour and services, but a focus on human resource development, especially to provide skilled workers, is a priority for the region.
“Labourers in each country need professional training to ensure they meet the demands of the Asean market and are able to move freely to work in various countries in the near future,” Dr Thang said.
He also noted that Asean workers will have to produce both quality and quantity at the same time and this will require Asean countries to actively cooperate with each other in the years to come.
Most of the Asean population is young and the plans for skill development among this demographic are set to follow the same direction and standards.
Laos has a large number of unskilled workers, most of whom work in agriculture. But the government is partnering with international bodies to provide various technical and vocational training programmes for young people.
The Asean Economic Community was officially established at the end of 2015 and is a major milestone in Asean's economic integration agenda. It will offer opportunities in the form of a huge market of more than US$2.6 trillion and over 600 million people.
In 2014, the AEC was collectively the third largest economy in Asia and the seventh largest in the world.
It is believed that one of the biggest AEC-related opportunities for Laos consists of attracting more foreign direct investment and strengthening integration into regional value chains, especially in agro-business and the manufacturing and service sectors.
