5th Project Review Committee (PRC) Meeting for Lao PDR Competitiveness and Trade Project (LCT)

Vientiane Capital, 22 July 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce organized a virtual Project Review Committee meeting of the Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT) to review its performance during the last six months and endorse priorities for the second half of 2021. The meeting was chaired by H.E. Somchith Inthamith, the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. More than 80 participants from the project implementation agencies (IAs) from both public and private sector as well as donors joined the meeting. Most participants joined virtually.

H.E. Somchith Inthamith, the Deputy Minister of Ministry of Industry and Commerce, said in his opening remarks that “Today’s meeting is taking place in critical juncture for Laos as outbreak of the COVID – 19 continues to spread. Although our country has not seen large number of COVID-19 cases, However, we are confronting seve re economic disruptions and a significant fiscal squeeze – from the global demand shock, supply chain disruptions and significantly reduced income from tourism and remittances. At the same time, crisis also comes with opportunities for positive change, and the present crisis offers us opportunity to undertake or accelerate much-needed reforms that would place our country on firmer footing as economic recovery takes hold”.
Mr. Sengphanomchone Inthasane, the Deputy Director-General of the Department of Planning and Cooperation, Ministry of Industry and commerce, presented key implementation progress, challenges as well as priorities for all project pillars. The presentation covered all components of the project, which consist of component A – improving the business environment component B – supporting the national trade facilitation secretariat (NTFC), and implementation of commitments under WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement ty, component C – Business Assistance Facility (BAF II) – a 50:50 Matching Grant Fund to improve firm-level competitiveness and component D – Project management coordination, improving policy making and transparency and supporting Public-Private Dialogue.

During the meeting, the participants discussed specific challenges they are facing in day-to-day implementation of project activities and exchanged lessons in overcoming the project implementation bottlenecks. H.E. Somchith Inthamith closed the meeting by acknowledging that important progress being made in a number of components, but a lot still need to be done in the second half of 2021 to make sure we make real change on the ground in facilitating trade and investment.

This meeting was supported by Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT) project, which is a multi-donor project funded by the World Bank Group, Australian Aid, Irish Aid, and USAID that aims to eliminate barriers to private sector-led growth by improving the regulatory environment, lowering trade costs and raising firm-level competitiveness.