H.E. Mr. Siaosawat Savengsuksa stated at the meeting that “trade facilitation is one of priority works that the government concerns. Previously, Trade Facilitation Secretariat (TFS) has accomplished numbers of missions to achieve trade facilitation strategies. One of the challenges is shown in Logistic Performance Index of WTO ranked Lao PDR 131 out of 160 countries in 2014, which moved down from 109 out of 155 countries in 2012”.
TFS has been paying attention to the obstacles of private sector regarding trade facilitation closely and continuously. It received numbers of issues for the government to improve. In early 2015, TFS received a report on issues of private sector in import-export in northern provinces (Luangphabang, Xayyabury, Luangnamtha, Oudomxay, Phongsaly and Bokeo) resulting from a concession of a company to provide document service for the export of some agricultural products such as: watermelon, banana, corn and millet to the People’s Republic of China.
After acknowledgement the report, TFS has begun to collect information and analyze advantages, disadvantages and organized this meeting, aiming to: (1) Report on the document service issues in northern provinces; (2) Hearing the implementation of the export from the past in northern provinces; (3) consultation to find solution for the impacts of document service for the export of agriculture products to China.
The meeting had shared convenience and difficulty of document service for the export of agricultural products of northern provinces. It separated participants into two groups (government and private sector) to brainstorm on how to resolve issues. After that the TFS will collect information by consulting with Department of Industry and Commerce, Chamber of Commerce at provincial level, customs officers at checkpoint and actual information from companies to evaluate the impact of the document service then report the analyst and solutions to upper management for further step.
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