The main objectives of this meeting were to discuss the key results of the two completed projects, namely Promotion of Export in three Northern Region (ECL-EIF Tier II) and the EU funded ARISE Plus Laos Projects, and review and discuss implementation progress for the fiscal year of 2023 and work plans for fiscal year 2024 of the Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT), MSME A2F-ESR, Lao Business Environment (LBE), CBI-Home Textile Project in Laos and SUSTOUR projects.

H.E. Mr. Malaithong Kommasith, Minister of Industry and Commerce emphasized that “today’s meeting is indeed a strong demonstration of our joint commitment to trade and private sector development in Laos. As you all know that the central role of the private sector in economic development, job creation and the maintenance of social stability has been increasingly recognized and accepted by our government and society at large. Today, private sector development has become an essential component of our national development agenda, including the Ninth National Socio-Economic Development Plan and other sector development for 2021-2025.”

Discussions in the first session of the meeting focused on key results delivered by the two completed projects and the second session focused on discussing key results delivered during fiscal year 2023 and the priorities for fiscal year 2024 of the five ongoing donor funded projects that are supporting specific interventions in all three key pillar of the Trade and Private Sector Development Roadmap, namely further deepening of economic integration, improving the business enabling environment, and raising firm and sector level competitiveness.

After very interactive discussions on key achievements as well as the implementation challenges encountered during fiscal year 2023 and proposed priorities for fiscal year 2024, the meeting endorsed the proposed priority plans for all five projects presented at the meeting.

H.E. Minister closed the meeting by expressing his appreciation to all development partners for their commitments and support to the Trade and Private Sector Development Agenda in Laos. H.E. Minister also called on all project implementing agencies to make extra efforts to contribute to implementation of the Government’s economic recovery plan through provision of well-designed targeted technical assistance.

The Project Executive Committee (PEC) will operate within the context of the Trade and Private Sector Working Group (TPSWG). In line with the Paris and Vientiane Declarations on Aid Effectiveness, the mandate of the PCE is to provide strategic advice, coordination, common operating guidelines with regard to the implementation of trade related programs and projects in Lao PDR. In addition, the PEC will provide a forum for transparency, and information exchange in the development and implementation of Trade and PSD related Assistance so called Trade for Development (T4D).

The post Ministry of Industry and Commerce organized ‘Annual Program Executive Committee (PEC) meeting to discuss the TRTA implementation progresses in 2023 and priorities in 2024’ first appeared on Trade for Development - T4D.

The main objectives of this meeting were to review and discuss the implementation progress for the fiscal year of 2022 and work plans for fiscal year 2023 of the Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT), Promotion of Export in three Northern Region (ECL-EIF Tier II), MSME Access to Finance for Emergency Support and Recovery (MSME A2F-ESR), Lao Business Environment (LBE), ARISE Plus Laos, CBI-Home Textile, Promoting Sustainable Tourism by Integrating MSMEs into Supply Chains and Raising Consumer Awareness (SUSTOUR) Projects.

H.E. Dr. Manothong Vongsay, Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce stressed in his opening remarks that “Today’s meeting is indeed a strong testimonial of our joint commitment to the trade and private sector development program in Laos, including its objectives as well as implementation and coordination modality. As you all know, the central role of the private sector in economic development, job creation and the maintenance of social stability has been increasingly recognized and accepted by our government and society at large. Today private sector development has become an essential component of our national development agenda, including the Nineth NSEDP and National Development Agenda”

H.E Deputy Minister closed his opening remarks by encouraging all Trade-Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) program to leverage their support program and more effectively target their technical assistance to support Lao government’s broad economic recovery and diversification policy through enhancing competitiveness of the non-resource economy.

Through active participation of participants from both development partners and national implementing agencies, the meeting was able to draw key lessons learned from 2022 and reach broad consensus on more ambitious work plans for 2023 for all seven projects covered at the meeting. The agreed priorities include priority interventions aimed to further simplify business regulatory procedures, trade facilitation, and enhancing sector and firm level competitiveness. While summarizing key discussion points, H.E. Deputy Minister shared some key principles to ensure effective implementation of TRTA in areas of improving business environment as well as firm level competitiveness.

H.E. Deputy Minister closed the meeting by thanking development partners, all international and national implementing agencies for their technical and financial support as well as their commitment to trade and private sector development in Laos.

The Program Executive Committee (PEC) operates within the context of the trade and Private Sector Working Group (TPSWG), in line with the Paris and Vientiane Declarations on Aid Effectiveness, the mandate of the PEC is to provide strategic advice, coordination, common operation guidelines with regard to the implementation of trade related programs and projects in Lao PDR. In addition, the PEC will provide a forum for transparency, and information exchange in the development and implementation of Trade and PSD related assistance so called Trade for Development (T4D).

The post Ministry of Industry and Commerce organized the 15th PEC meeting to discuss the TRTA implementation progresses in 2022 and priorities in 2023 first appeared on Trade for Development - T4D.

The main objectives of this meeting were to review and discuss the implementation progress for the fiscal year of 2021 and work plans for fiscal year 2022 of the Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT), Promotion of Export in three Northern Region (ECL-EIF Tier II), MSME A2F-ESR, Lao Business Environment (LBE), CBI-Home Textile Project in Laos and ARISE Plus projects.

H.E. PhD. Khampheng Xaysompheng, Minister of Industry and Commerce stressed in his opening remarks that “Today’s meeting is indeed a strong demonstration of our joint commitment to trade and private sector development in Laos. As you all know that the central role of the private sector in economic development, job creation and the maintenance of social stability has been increasingly recognized and accepted by our government and society at large. Today, private sector development has become an essential component of our national development agenda, including the Ninth National Socio-Economic Development Plan and other sector development for 2021-2025”.

H.E. Minister closed his opening remarks by encouraging all Trade-Related Technical Assistant (TRTA) program to leverage their technical assistance to support the government’s broad economic recovery and diversification policy by enhancing competitiveness of our non-resource economy.

After the opening remarks, the meeting discussed the implementation progress in 2021 and priorities for fiscal year 2022 of all six-trade related technical assistance projects. The individual project presentation was made by project directors from development agencies and government executing agencies.

Through active participation of participants from both development partners and national implementing agencies, the meeting was able to draw key lessons learned from 2021 and reach broad consensus on more ambitious work plans for 2022 for all six projects covered at the meeting. The agreed priorities include priority interventions aimed to further simplify business regulatory procedures, trade facilitation, and enhancing enterprise competitiveness.
While summarizing key discussion points, H.E. Dr. Khampheng Xaysompheng, shared some key principles to ensure effective implementation of TRTA in areas of improving business environment as well as firm level competitiveness.

H.E. Minister closed the meeting by thanking development partners all international and national implementing agencies for their technical and financial support as well as their commitment to trade and private sector development in Laos.
The Project Executive Committee (PEC) will operate within the context of the Trade and Private Sector Working Group (TPSWG). In line with the Paris and Vientiane Declarations on Aid Effectiveness, the mandate of the PCE is to provide strategic advice, coordination, common operating guidelines with regard to the implementation of trade related programs and projects in Lao PDR. In addition, the PEC will provide a forum for transparency, and information exchange in the development and implementation of Trade and PSD related Assistance so called Trade for Development (T4D).

The post Ministry of Industry and Commerce organized the 14th PEC meeting to discuss the TRTA implementation progresses in 2021 and priorities in 2022 first appeared on Trade for Development - T4D.

The meeting’s purposes were to review implementation progress of all major Trade-Related Technical Assistance (TRTA) for 2020 and build broad consensus among key stakeholders on priority areas of our trade and private sector development program for 2021.

Mrs. Khemmani Pholsena, Minister of Industry and Commerce, provided an opening remark that Today’s meeting is a strong demonstration of our joint commitment to trade and private sector development in Laos. As you all know, the central role of the private sector in economic growth, job creation, and social stability maintenance has been increasingly recognized and accepted by our government and society at large. Today private sector development has become an essential component of our national development agendas, including the final draft of the Ninth National Socioeconomic Development Plan (9th NSEDP) for 2021-2025.

After the opening remark from Mrs. Khemmani Pholsena, the morning session of the meeting followed what has been listed in the meeting agenda with the pattern of presenting the project implementation progress together with the action plan in 2021 starting from Lao Business Environment (LBE) presented by IBI representatives. Then, the representative of CBI presented the Home Textile Coaching project. The Department of Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion (DOSMEP) presented the SME Access to finance project.

The afternoon session of the meeting followed the same pattern of the morning session, starting from the presentation by the representative of ITC regarding the ARISE Plus project. Next, the Department of Planning and Cooperation presented the Lao Competitiveness and Trade (LCT) and Promotion of Export Competitiveness and Sustainability Support to Public-Private Dialogue in Northern Lao PDR (EIF-ECL) projects.

Before the meeting came to an end, Mrs. Khemmani Pholsena, Minister of Industry and Commerce, highlighted the project implementation issues, such as setting SMART goals, being aware of changing landscape and maximize the use of adaptive approach to project management, keeping working with private sectors, making clear distinctions between what the public and private sectors should do and avoiding overlapping activities. Finally, she expressed her gratitude towards all participants for their contribution in their meeting as well as the supports through projects discussed in the meeting.

The Project Executive Committee (PEC) will operate within the context of the Trade and Private Sector Working Group (TPSWG). In line with the Paris and Vientiane Declarations on Aid Effectiveness, the mandate of the PCE is to provide strategic advice, coordination, common operating guidelines with regard to the implementation of trade related programs and projects in Lao PDR. In addition, the PEC will provide a forum for transparency, and information exchange in the development and implementation of Trade and PSD related Assistance so called Trade for Development (T4D).

The post Ministry of Industry and Commerce organized a Program Executive Committee Meeting to discuss the TRTA implementation progress in 2020 first appeared on Trade for Development - T4D.