The First Project Review Committee (PRC) Meeting for ARISE Plus – Lao PDR Project

The First Project Review Committee (PRC) Meeting for ARISE Plus – Lao PDR Project

The Department of Planning and Cooperation of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC) held the 1st Project Review Committee (PRC) Meeting for ARISE Plus – Lao PDR Project on January 24th at Crowne Plaza Hotel, Vientiane Capital which chaired by Mr. Sengphanomchone Inthasane, Deputy Director General of Department of Planning and Cooperation, MOIC and Mr. Bryan Fornari, Head of Cooperation European Union Delegation to Lao PDR and around 30 participants from MOIC, line ministries and development partners.
Main objectives of the meeting are to review the project inception phase progress of the past year and discuss key activities and priorities for year 2020. The reviewed and agreed work plan will be submitted to the Program Executive Committee for consideration and endorsement.
The meeting started with the brief overview of ARISE Plus Laos project by Mr. Xuejun Jiang, Chief, Office for Asia and the Pacific, ITC and followed by the presentations of the inception phase progress, work plans and discussions.

On his opening remarks, Mr. Sengphanomchone Inthasane said “currently there are 14 projects operating under our structure with 04 of them executed by Government and the remaining 10 projects are executed by international implementing agencies, including the ARISE Plus Laos. This presents both opportunities and challenges meaning we have opportunities to maximize each individual project’s development impact through leveraging support being provided by other projects. At the same time, we will need to work harder to make sure our project complements other 13 active projects for maximum impact.”

ARISE Plus Laos project aims to support Lao government to improve business environment with a focus on regional economic integration and increase trade and participation in global value chains in targeted sectors particularly coffee and wood sector. The project is funded by European Union as part of broader support to regional integration in ASEAN. The ARISE Plus Laos is implemented by ITC in partnership with MOIC, other concerned agencies within public and private sectors.

In his closing remarks, Mr. Sengphanomchone Inthasane emphasized that “Priority activities for FY 2020 presented by the project team is broadly aligned with the overall project objectives and I believe that successful implementation of these activities will make important contributions to achieving intended project outcomes. However, I would like to call on project team as well as partners to set priorities against predefined project outcome indicators and closely monitor linkage between project activities and outcomes as well as need to cooperate with other donors’ projects to make sure we make real impact on increasing trade and participation of target sectors in global value chains”