Key outputs and Highlights of the work plan Ministry of Industry and Commerce Foreign Trade Policy Department Key outputs and Highlights of the work plan By: Mrs. Kingsadone PHETDAOHEUANG Deputy Director - General TDF II Project Review Committee Meeting April 28, 2016

Contents General Overview Major Progress and Achievements Trade in Services Trade in Goods Key Issue and Recommendation Work Plan (Apr – Sep 2016)

1. General Overview Under TDF 2, a number of activities have been carried out by FTPD during the period from September 2015 to March 2016 to support Lao PDR’s implementation of trade related commitments under the WTO and ASEAN, focusing on Trade in Goods and Trade in Services with the aim to improve the regulatory environment affecting trade.

2. Major Progress and Achievements A3. Trade in Services 1. Horizontal assessment FTPD, and the Trade Policy Advisor, made early arrangements to engage ERMD for implementation of HRA’s high priority recommendations.   FTPD firstly informed ERMD, in writing, of the recommendations concerning enterprise registration issues with proposals and process for implementing the recommendations. In response, ERMD has initiated consultations with concerned line ministries, and has reviewed and revised the lists of enterprise registration requirements according to FTPD's proposal. However, there are further implementations of recommendations required. Therefore, the consultative meeting with ERMD is proposed to be held in May 2016.

Major Progress and Achievements 2. Sectorial assessments 2.1. Telecommunication Consultant has revised and subsequently submitted the substantially revised final Sector Report and the revised implementation Report. These revised reports were reviewed and approved as the final reports in September 2015. A draft Decree has been prepared for setting up of the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority. As advised by the Government Office, MoPT has proposed a Ministerial meeting with MoIA and MoIC to discuss and finalize the draft Decree. The meeting is expected to focus more on whether to set up the Independent Regulator as a new institution, or to convert the existing department into Independent Regulator. FTPD is closely following up on the progress and would suggest to include this issue in the next meeting of National Steering Committee for Economic Integration (NSC).

Major Progress and Achievements 2.2. Insurance FTPD sent a letter to the Department of State-owned Enterprises Finance Management, MoF with the comments (including international consultant’s comments) on the Draft Ministerial Guideline on Insurance Business Operating License, and attached Lao translation of 4 regulations drafted by the international consultant for their information. In December 2015, the international consultant completed his final field mission, and after modification in accordance with the comments, the report is finalized in March 2016. In addition, the regulations recommended in the report are to be translated and will be sent to MoF for information. FTPD will prepare an Action Plan based on the report’s recommendations and follow-up with MoF for implementation, particularly those relating to capacity building of the Regulator.

Major Progress and Achievements 2.3. Mutual Recognition Arrangements (MRAs) Implementation of recommendations in the assessment related to MRAs in the Accountancy Services is in progress. Department of Accounting, MoF, is taking steps to set up the Professional Regulatory Authority (PRA), Monitoring Committee (MC), and National Accountancy Body (NAB) for Accountancy Services as required under ASEAN MRAs. MoF's request for consultants is approved and the recruitment of the consultants is under process. Interviews for the selection of National Consultant were successfully complete and an appointment was made in March 2016. Applications received for International Consultant have been evaluated and the best candidate was selected. Consulting contract is being negotiated at the moment.

Major Progress and Achievements 3. Services Trade and Investment Portal National consultant, in cooperation with international consultant, has created database of the collected laws and regulations, and was referred to the WB for comments. Specific adjustments on the draft database are being made in response to the WB’s comments. Moreover, after assessment, it is recommended to have a law firm to review the list of collected laws and regulations. FTPD finalized the TOR and sent it to NIU for the procurement. FTPD and NIU, after discussion, agreed to use the 'single source method' for procurement, under which the law firm DFDL is to be considered. The recruitment of IT team is nearly complete. The proposal from Cyberia has been evaluated by the International Consultant and approved by the WB. The design and development of the portal will start after FTPD gets the IT firm on board which an appointment is expected to be made in early May 2016.

Major Progress and Achievements A4. Trade in Goods 1. Strengthening trade policy coordination mechanisms FTPD continues to serve as supporting office in charge of ensuring coordination, work programming and regulatory conformity with the international trade obligations in all goods and services and other trade-related areas. The 13th meeting of the National Steering Committee for Economic Integration (NSC) and the 59th meeting of the NSC Secretariat are expected to be organized in May 2016.

Major Progress and Achievements 2. Dissemination of commitments and building capacity on trade remedies A dissemination workshop related to WTO post accession and AEC processes was organized in October 2015 at Bokeo Governor’s Office, Bokeo Province, and was attended by 222 participants from public and private sectors as well as academia from all over the province. Participants showed a lot of interest to the contents of the dissemination which could be seen from the attention paid by participants, exchange of comments, and the questions raised especially regarding the human resources development and capacity building for both public and private sectors to be able to take advantage of the potentials and to mitigate the risks of the AEC membership.

Major Progress and Achievements In respect to Trade Remedies and capacity building, As a result of various internal consultations in June 2015, the drafting committee has drafted the text on Safeguards Law, thereafter FTPD continued to work on improving the draft and due to finalized it by this week for the inter-ministerial consultation meeting in May 2016. On November 2015, the MOIC has reviewed the drafting committee on Safeguards Law. The next steps will be to organize mass consultations with the public and private sectors in Vientiane and provinces with the aim of generating inputs from the stakeholders as required by the Law on making Legislation, before submitting the final draft for approval by the National Assembly in December 2016. The organization of Investigation Authority and Capacity Building to implement the Safeguards Law will proceed from February 2017 onward.

Major Progress and Achievements 3. Further strengthening of SPS legal framework Good progress has been made on the revisions of the Law on Plant protection and Livestock and Veterinary Matters. The Department of Livestock and Fisheries and Department of Agriculture, MoAF, have organized separate consultation workshops with public and private sectors in Vientiane and provinces to improve the draft text of two existing laws.

Major Progress and Achievements With regard to Law on Plant protection, the draft consolidated text has been submitted to the Legal Department, MoJ for an impact assessment in February, and then shared with the Government Office in April. The final draft is scheduled to be submitted for approval by the National Assembly in December 2016. For Law on Livestock and Veterinary Matters, after a various consultation meetings in January, the drafting committee is having discussions to consolidate the comments and to finalize the text before sending it to the Legal Department, MoJ in May. The draft consolidated text will be later shared with the Government Office in June 2016, and the final draft is scheduled to be submitted for approval by the National Assembly in June 2017.

3. Key issue and recommendation Laos assumes the ASEAN chairmanship this year and in that capacity will host ASEAN summit along with high level meetings. FTPD, as the focal point, in charge of ensuring coordination and promoting economic integration towards AEC, has limit human resources for handling both a number of preparatory works to support this Chairmanship and the activities under TDF2, and that has resulted in delays in the implementation of several activities outlined in the work plan. Dr. Sirisena (Trade Policy Advisor) will finish his contract in this April, FTPD always sees how important his tasks and contributions to assist the department in the implementation of the recommendations raised in the horizontal and sectoral assessment reports. We would due course take the opportunity to discuss with the WB the recruitment of a new Trade Policy Advisor.

4. Work Plan (Apr – Sep 2016) A3. Trade in Services A3.1 Enhancing regulatory capacity in trade in services A313 The implementation of ASEAN MRAs in Laos: Consultation meetings to finalize the action plan International and National consultant to assist in the implementation of MRA on Accountancy services A313 Regulatory and institutional assessment for insurance sector: Technical assistance to support the implementation of the action plan Conduct a study on services strategies of Laos Study visit to China to gain practical experience and knowledge on the implementation of the WTO commitments on service sectors regulatory framework and supervision focusing on learning China's experience in provision and transfer of financial information, financial data processing and related supporting software)

Work Plan (Apr – Sep 2016) A313 Laos' ASEAN chairmanship, post chairmanship review and evaluation meetings: Inter-ministerial consultation meetings related to preparation for Laos‘ ASEAN chairmanship and post chairmanship review Consultation meetings on preparation of the 48th ASEAN Economic Ministers and related meetings, and press release of the outcome of the meetings A3.2 Improving access to services regulation (development of Services Trade and investment Portal): Recruit an IT firm for the development of STIP Recruit a Law firm to review the list of collected laws and regulations Purchase software, hardware and IT equipment for the STIP

Work Plan (Apr – Sep 2016) Technical consultation workshops on the design and specifications of the STIP Study visit to Malaysia to gain practical experience and knowledge on establishment, maintenance and supervision of the STIP including content development, design, maintenance and others Translation of relevant legislations and documents for uploading on the STIP A4. Trade in Goods A4.1 Strengthening trade policy coordination mechanisms Annual meeting of the NSC for Economic Integration Review meeting of the operations of TBT/SPS Enquiry point and notification of technical regulations

Work Plan (Apr – Sep 2016) A4.2 Dissemination commitments and building capacity on trade remedies Develop Safeguards Law: Mass consultation meetings prior to submission to the Government for endorsement Technical consultation meetings on drafting a border trade agreement between the Government of Laos and China Technical consultation meetings to review the implementation progress of the existing bilateral trade agreements Disseminating commitments: Dissemination workshops on Laos’ regional economic integration: Opportunities and Challenges of the economic integration (Laos towards AEC) Dissemination workshops on Laos' ASEAN Chairmanship: Responsibilities, Opportunities and Challenges Dissemination workshops on bilateral trade agreements between the Government of Laos and its dialogue partners

Thank you for your attention Ministry of Industry and Commerce Department of Foreign Trade Policy Component A – Trade Facilitation, Trade Policy and Regulations Thank you for your attention