During the meeting, Mrs. Kheammani Pholsena, MOIC Minister, who co-chaired the Forum with Mr. Oudet Souvannavong, LNCCI President, stated that improving laws and regulations is only part of what is required for private enterprise growth. “It is also important to ensure that laws and regulations are effectively implemented at all levels of government. As a public-private dialogue mechanism, the Lao Business Forum will continue to play an important role in monitoring implementation of the legal and regulatory framework.”
Mr. Oudet Souvannavong, President of LNCCI, also acknowledged the important role of the Lao Business Forum in improving the business environment. “Since the success of LBF 10, we can see that public-private dialogue has improved significantly at every level. In particular, the public sector has shown commitments and given attention to resolving issues raised by the private sector.”
Since LBF 10 held in March 2017, four priority issues raised were completely resolved, important progress has been made on seven issues. Three groups of issues were raised by the private sector during the Lao Business Forum. Business taxation group, consisting of two issues: value-added tax refunds for export producers and excise tax on Internet usage charges; trade facilitation and transportation group, consisting of four issues: lengthy procedures for importing goods and raw materials exempt from customs duties and value added tax under the Investment Promotion Law; import of goods via traditional borders for commercial trade purposes; high costs of transport and logistics; and regulations for obtaining permits for transit transport services; and the last group of issues related to key barriers to sustainable tourism development in Laos.
Relevant government agencies and private sector representatives agreed on the number of concrete measures to address all the issues raised at the Forum and following the Forum, the Government is expected to issue detailed instructions to resolve all the issues discussed under the Lao Business Forum dialogue process.
In his remarks, H.E. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith highlighted key Government achievements in maintaining macroeconomic stability, poverty reduction, economic integration, and improving the overall environment for doing business. H.E. Prime Minister also stressed the need to promote private sector development through improving overall legal and regulatory framework for doing business in Laos. “The Government recognizes the importance of the private sector to achieving our social economic development targets, and has decided to leverage public-private dialogue under the Lao Business Forum, to make it an effective tool for identifying and resolving key issues related to the establishment and expansion of business”.
The Prime Minister H.E. Thongloun Sisoulith concluded the Forum by stating that the government would take all the issues raised at the Forum into consideration and emphasized the necessity of continuing this constructive dialogue in the future.
News source: Lao Business Forum Secretariat
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