European partners laud Laos' efforts to accomplish development goals
European partners laud Laos' efforts to accomplish development goals
European Development Partners (EDP) have congratulated the Lao government on the successful first year of implementation of the 8th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) for 2016-2020.
As stipulated in its statement issued during the Round Table Implementation Meeting in Vientiane province last week, the EDP (the European Union and its member states together with Switzerland) described the economic success in Laos and the challenges the country is facing.
They stated that Laos remains one of the fastest growing economies in the region with poverty having steadily decreased over the past 15 years and is projected to fall further.
However, the challenges to ensure equitable and inclusive growth remain. Moreover, the rate of income growth is unequal amongst the poorest population sector.
The 8th NSEDP is directed towards mitigating these inequalities by promoting balanced, broad-based, inclusive and sustainable growth and development. The 2030 Sustainable Development Goals agenda (SDGs) reflect updated global challenges, which are much more interrelated and require a systemic change of both poverty eradication and the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development, in a balanced and integrated manner.
We commend the government's progress in the localisation and mainstreaming of the 2030 agenda into the NSEDP and encourage continuous integration of the SDGs into Laos' own planning and budgeting frameworks. Full alignment is crucial to avoid
parallel structures, budgets, monitoring frameworks to promote integration with respect to implementation tools, resources and arrangements, said the statement.
In this context, we would like to highlight the importance of food and nutrition security in the achievement of the Human Assets Index which is perhaps the most challenging of the three criteria for graduation from Least Developed Country status and how this would be reflected in the budget and resource allocation.
The outcome statement agreed to at the 2nd Lao Nutrition forum last week enshrines the high level of commitment by the government to tackle this silent emergency.
The European partners recommended that the concept of resource mobilisation' for SDGs should be viewed as an integrated use of various sources of financing with the country's own resources playing a primary role.
This is even more relevant in light of the current high fiscal deficit and macro-economic vulnerability to external shock.
Efforts to maintain macro-economic stability and an enabling environment to attract investment are crucial, and we look forward to active dialogue with the private sector in the upcoming Lao Business Forum.
European partners note the commitments by the Lao government to increase budget transparency and by the development partners to support the strengthening of public financial management systems, as established in the Vientiane Declaration II. Effective budget transparency is a precondition for stronger reliance on cou ntry systems.
The efforts made to increase revenues and improve tax legislation and enforcement are commendable and the European partners look forward to further cooperation with Laos in this area.
