Ministry of Industry and Commerce organized a Program Executive Committee Meeting to discuss the TRTA implementation progress in 2020
Vientiane Capital, 25 January 2021. Ministry of Industry and Commerce organized a Program Executive Committee meeting at Crowne Plaza Hotel. The meeting was chaired by Mrs. Khemmani Pholsena, Minister of Industry and Commerce. More than 100 representatives from relevant development partners, program implementation agencies and implementing partners from public and private sectors participated in the meeting.
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).
