Lao PDR post-accession

THE PROJECT

Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) became the 158th member of the WTO on 2 February 2013. The country has used the accession process to modernize its trade regime and to adopt international best practices. During the 15-year accession process, Lao PDR overhauled its trade framework and amended most of its trade-related laws. That was a long and difficult process which codified the move from a largely state-dominated economy to a market economy based. Over the past years, IDEAS Centre has become a close advisor in both bilateral and multilateral negotiations of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MoIC), which was responsible for Laos’ WTO accession negotiations. It has been assisting the MoIC since 2007 during the country’s WTO accession process, and subsequently in its post-accession phase (March 2014-2017).

Overall Goal and Content

As a recently-acceded Member of the WTO, passing laws and creating institutions is usually not enough to comply with WTO obligations and requirements. Indeed, institutions must ensure that new laws are applied correctly. Lao PDR wants to reap the benefits of the hard work accomplished during its accession process and is fully aware that it will get those benefits only if it fully applies its commitments. It has revised its Diagnostic Trade Integration Study which is part of the Enhanced Integrated Framework collaboration and elaborated a road map for trade and private sector development (action matrix) to fully implement its commitments. The Study and the matrix were validated in May 2012. This overall framework, with detailed activities and donor contributions, clearly establishes the priorities for the beneficiary and lays out the actions required. It also provides support to the National Implementation Unit to coordinate the aid in a structured framework as well as to monitor and evaluate the activities undertaken.

Overall Goal and Content

As a recently-acceded Member of the WTO, passing laws and creating institutions is usually not enough to comply with WTO obligations and requirements. Indeed, institutions must ensure that new laws are applied correctly. Lao PDR wants to reap the benefits of the hard work accomplished during its accession process and is fully aware that it will get those benefits only if it fully applies its commitments. It has revised its Diagnostic Trade Integration Study which is part of the Enhanced Integrated Framework collaboration and elaborated a road map for trade and private sector development (action matrix) to fully implement its commitments. The Study and the matrix were validated in May 2012. This overall framework, with detailed activities and donor contributions, clearly establishes the priorities for the beneficiary and lays out the actions required. It also provides support to the National Implementation Unit to coordinate the aid in a structured framework as well as to monitor and evaluate the activities undertaken.

Lao PDR’s membership in the WTO, however, does not only require changes in its trade policy and negotiating structure for the sake of implementing its WTO commitments. Indeed, its membership in WTO can be a game-changer for Lao PDR’s trade-related development policies. Lao PDR has to ensure that it obtains the complete benefits of its WTO membership by fully participating and having a proactive position in the ongoing Doha negotiations, especially in key areas of the post-Bali work plan, and by using the various committees of the WTO to strengthen its technical capacity and promote its economic interests in important fields such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures, technical barriers to trade, customs valuation and the services sector. Lao PDR must also comply with notification requirements as well as with action plans in areas where it was granted transitional periods to fully implement some specific WTO commitments.

Objectives

The overall objective of the project is to ensure that trade reforms contribute to the sustainable development of Lao PDR by adapting its trade policy and negotiating strategy so as to fully take advantage of the WTO membership. The specific objectives are to:

• Assist Lao PDR to fully comply with its WTO commitments and obligations (component 1);
• Assist Lao PDR in becoming an active member of the WTO, fully participating and defending its interests in the WTO negotiations and through regular WTO bodies (component 2);
• Strengthen capacities of Lao PDR’s negotiatiors and officials in trade policy-making and trade negotiations area (component 3).

By accompanying Lao PDR in its post-WTO accession phase, the project aims to enable Lao PDR to take full advantage of the WTO membership. It seeks to ensure that Lao PDR will have the ability to be an active WTO Member who will need no further assistance for accomplishing its membership tasks.

Activities

Component 1 – support for implementation of WTO commitments and obligations:

• Assistance in elaborating an action plan for implementing commitments under transitional periods;
• Ensure that new laws and regulations are in conformity with WTO requirements;
• Ensure that all notifications are transmitted to the WTO;
• Set up a mechanism for screening and responding to incoming notifications in line with Lao PDR’s economic interests and priorities, including a proposal for division of labour between capital-based officials and Geneva representatives with respect to notifications.

Component 2 – support for participation in WTO negotiations and regular bodies:

• Participation in the work of WTO committees and other bodies;
• Support in the Doha negotiations (including post-Bali) and follow-up.

Component 3 – capacity building for trade policy implementation and negotiations:

• Training to be provided in Lao PDR for the relevant government officials on negotiations and trade policy in Geneva and Vientiane, in particular on Doha issues of interest to Lao PDR, such as post-Bali issues (trade facilitation, services waiver, duty-free quota-free market access, etc.);
• Training to be provided in Lao PDR with relevant ministries and agencies to help them comprehending the implication of commitments, and in particular on the various steps to meet obligations and commitments for which transition periods have been received;
• In order to improve the capacities of the competent institutions to meet the relevant WTO obligations and commitments, trainings in Geneva of Laotian officials coming from the capital to Geneva will be provided for technical meetings of regular WTO bodies, for meetings on negotiation issues or for discussions on issues of special concern to the Laotian Government.