Vientiane, 08 December 2016. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce together with the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI) held the first Lao Business Forum (LBF) Steering Committee supported by the Second Trade Development Facility (TDF II) to discuss the results of the consultation process through a series of Public and Private Consultative (PPC) Meetings held during October to November this year as well as to prepare for the 10th LBF scheduled for early 2017.
The meeting was chaired by H.E Mrs. Khemmani Pholsena, Minister of Industry and Commerce and co-chaired by Mr. Oudet Souvannavong, President of the LNCCI with more 115 participants from public, private, foreign chambers and donors.
In her opening remarks, H.E Khemmani Pholsena expressed that the Lao Business Forum is an important and structured forum that promotes dialogue between the public and private sectors both foreign and domestic in order to develop a successful environment for private sector enterprises operating in Lao PDR. Also, the minister informed the meeting that the government focal point for the LBF has be transferred to MOIC from Minister of Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) and the upcoming LBF 10th will be under chairmanship of the MOIC and LNCCI remains to be a co-chair of the Forum.
In addition, Mr. Oudet Souvannavong also stated that “increasing competition in both regional and international markets such as the competition on production, markets, service and using of modern technology which is friendly with environment has posted challenges on the Lao private sector; therefore, it is important that strong support is needed from the government especially policy makers to provide the best possible support to businesses, so that they can compete effectively in both the domestic and international marketplace”.
During the meeting, Mr. Saman Aneka, Vice president of the LNCCI presented a summary of issues raised by various private sector working groups as well as proposed recommendations. According to Mr. Aneka, currently, 15 private sector working groups are actively participating in the dialogue and they have prioritized about 34 specific issues related to business regulations and government promotion policies, and we are actively facilitating these working groups to have concrete dialogue with various public sector agencies to agree on solutions to priority issues in preparation for the next LBF 10th scheduled for early next year.
In her closing remarks, H.E Mrs. Khemmani Pholsena emphasized that “the LBF is a formal dialogue mechanism between the government and private sector facilitated by the MOIC as a government focal point in order to promote polices dialogues on issues and constraints to private sector and overall business environment in Lao PDR; hence, strong collaboration and coordination is needed from relevant line government agencies to help address those issues raised by the private sector particularly on further researches and studies needed to strengthen issues’ formulation and proposed recommendations, clarifications on selected laws and regulations as well as information sharing for potential investors. As a key next step, , closed coordination among key stakeholders is needed to strengthen immature private sector’s issues, prioritize key issues as well as agree on agenda for the next LBF 10th.
[Department of Planing and Cooperation, Ministry of Industry and Commerce]
