Day: April 7, 2022

The government of Japan pledged USD 833,333 to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to implement: Safer Cities: Interventions against Covid-19 focusing on WASH and Protection for communities at risk.

The launch on Apr 7 at the U.N. House was attended by Ambassador of Japan in the Lao PDR Kenichi Kobayashi, President of the Lao Women Union Inlavanh Keobounphanh, UNFPA Representative to Lao PDR Mariam A. KHAN, Dr. Avi Sarkar, Regional Advisor, South-East Asia, UBS, and Head of Office, UN-Habitat in the Lao PDR, and representatives from the Ministry of Public Works and Transport and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In her opening remarks, Ms Inlavanh Keobounphanh, President of Lao Women Union, thanked the government of Japan, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, and other partners for supporting the protection of women and girls in Laos. “This partnership provides support to survivors, women, and girls to access law and justice and ensure their safety through protection shelters, including mental health and psychosocial support,” said Ms Inlavanh.

The project aims to improve the lives of about 500 vulnerable women and girls and survivors of violence and 3,000 COVID-19 affected people, as well as strengthen the capacities of 100 service providers, through the provision of WASH facilities, physical improvements to protection shelters, quarantine facilities and isolation facility structures, gender-responsive support, and improvement of women-friendly spaces.

The project targets 11 provinces including Xayaboury, Savannakhet, Borikhamxay, Champassak, Xekong, Saravan, Khammuan, Attapeu, Bokeo, Luang Prabang, and Vientiane.

Japanese Ambassador Kenichi Kobayashi said, “Japan is a strong supporter of the COVID-19 response and gender equality efforts in Laos. It is my pleasure to assure you that Japan will continue to support Laos in various fields, including the country’s COVID-19 pandemic response and the empowerment of women. Japan does so as a strategic partner of Laos, reiterating our support and strong desire for continued close collaboration with the international community and development partners.”

Ms Mariam A. Khan stated, “This project comes at a critical moment, I thank the Government of Japan for this contribution which responds to COVID-19 but also paves the way for a rapidly urbanising Lao PDR. This new support will safeguard the health and lives of thousands of women and girls and vulnerable groups in the years to come.”

The project focuses on two main components: Provision of protection and social services for women and girls, including gender-sensitive safety measures, for quarantine/isolation facilities and protection shelters. It also aims to establish three new protection shelters and improve two existing protection shelters to provide safe haven for women and girl survivors of violence and vulnerable women. Provision of WASH facilities/hard infrastructure and physical improvements to quarantine/isolation facilities, community centers, and at-risk communities.

The project also contributes to the implementation of the Essential Services Package on Women and Girls Subjected to Violence, a global guidance tool identifying the essential services by health, social services, police and justice sectors to be provided to all women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence – GBV. The ESP is supported by many donors, including DFAT, UK, SDC and KOICA.

Source: Lao News Agency

On Apr 1 at the Government House in Canberra, Mr. Sinchai Manivanh presented the Letter of Credentials to General the David John Hurley AC DSC (Retd), Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia to serve as Ambassador of the Lao PDR to the Commonwealth of Australia.

On this occasion, Governor- General expressed his warm welcome and congratulations to Mr. Sinchai Manivanh to assume his duty as Ambassador of the Lao PDR to the Commonwealth of Australia.

The Lao Ambassador expressed his high appreciation for the warm welcome and the arrangement of the presentation of Credentials.

Ambassador Sinchai Manivanh, on behalf of the Government and People of the Lao PDR, expressed sincere thanks and appreciation to the Government and the People of Australia for the continued support and assistance in many sectors, including education and human resources development, public health, trade and investment, water resources management, agriculture, tourism, and UXO clearance, among others, that have significantly contributed to the development of the Lao PDR, and looking forward to the continuation of the support and assistance in the years to come.

Governor- General expressed appreciation for the Lao PDR’s cooperation and support to Australia in regional and international affairs and affirmed that Australia would further continue its support and assistance to the Lao PDR both bilaterally and internationally.

This credential presentation ceremony was held and conducted in a harmonious atmosphere.

The Lao PDR and Australia have established their diplomatic relations since 15 January 1952.

Source: Lao News Agency

Putting a price on pollution, making it easier for small businesses to register, taxing digital goods and services more effectively are some of the ways economies in developing Asia and the Pacific can raise the tax revenue needed to help ensure sustainable growth, according to a new Asian Development Bank (ADB) report.

The region faces a shortfall of public funding for priorities such as health, education, infrastructure, the fight against climate change, and the recovery from the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Available policy reforms, strategically applied, could enable economies in developing Asia to boost tax revenue by as much as 4% of gross domestic product (GDP) on average, according to the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022, released on April 6.

Developing Asia’s aging population will require higher spending on pensions and health care, while rising affluence will boost expectations for more and better public goods and services. Vast investments in clean energy are needed to tackle the threat of climate change. To meet these demands and others, countries will need to draw on the full range of private and public financial resources.

Solutions for governments to consider include more efficient collection of value-added taxes, reforming tax incentives, bringing more businesses into the formal economy, and optimizing personal income and property taxes.

“Economies in Asia and the Pacific will face a growing need for effective public spending in areas like health, education, and the environment,” said ADB Chief Economist Albert Park. “Policy reforms that improve tax collection and increase revenue can help the region achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth. Such reforms must be carried out on a case-by-case basis, and in ways that don’t stifle growth or create undue burdens on taxpayers.”

Even before the pandemic, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific estimated that the region would need to increase annual spending by about US$1.5 trillion—or about 5% of GDP—to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

By enacting reforms, developing Asia’s economies could increase tax revenue from a pre-pandemic average of around 16% of GDP by 3 to 4 percentage points on average, according to ADB estimates.

For instance, making it easier to register a business and lowering transaction costs could bring more small businesses into the formal economy, enhancing tax collection.

In Southeast Asia, micro, small, and medium-sized businesses accounted for 98% of all enterprises and 41% of GDP as of 2020. Governments can also improve the collection of taxes from Asia and the Pacific’s burgeoning trade in digital services, which more than tripled since 2005 to US$1.4 trillion in 2020.

Other taxes can raise revenue while directly promoting environmental protection and public health. Carbon pricing instruments and fossil fuel taxes, for example, have been proven to reduce pollution. Taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and unhealthy food and drinks can raise additional revenue by up to 0.6% of GDP, while leading to better health outcomes and reducing medical costs, according to ADO 2022.

Public information campaigns drawing on behavioral insights, and better use of digital technologies, can also help enhance tax collection. Improving the quality of government spending is key to tapping people’s intrinsic willingness to pay taxes, the report notes.

Source: Lao News Agency

Almost 70 percent of businesses that applied for registrations, licenses and permits in Laos paid bribes to government officials to get approval, a report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said.

The report on the cost of doing business in Laos drew responses from 1,357 respondents, 68 percent of whom said that so-called “informal payments” were necessary for smooth and efficient business operations. ADB, which is based in Manila, provides loans, grants and other financial assistance to projects that promote growth in Asian countries and reduce extreme poverty in the region.

“The informal charges must be paid for everything … because the access to the officials and the system they control is difficult, and the system is slow to adopt technology,” an employee at the ADB office in Laos, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, told RFA’s Lao Service Thursday.

“It’s going to take some time to update the rules, amend the laws and improve the behavior of officials. The Lao government should develop human resources by upgrading their skills and knowledge, but it is more important that they are more transparent,” the ADB official said.

Paying the bribe to get things done is sometimes easier than doing business by the book, an owner of a bar and restaurant in the historic town of Luang Prabang in northern Laos told RFA.

“Paying kickbacks is widespread in Laos. They do it in every district and in every province because the process of obtaining license or permit in this country is very complex, bureaucratic and time consuming,” said the owner, who declined to be named.

“In my case, I knew somebody in the provincial business registration office. They came by and inspected my facility first before I could register my business. You have to know somebody in the office, if not, it’s going to be difficult to get registered,” he said.

Connections and money are integral to doing business in Laos, the owner of a Luang Prabang car rental company told RFA.

“If you try to do it yourself, you’ll find a lot of trouble. But if you have a link or a connection in the office, it’ll be much easier because you and your connection can talk and compromise, of course, with the appropriate amount of money under the table,” he said.

“With the appropriate amount, a process that normally takes three months takes only three weeks. In my case, I paid the appropriate amount to an acquaintance outside of his office after work hours,” the car rental owner said.

Lao governmental paperwork is overly complicated, the owner of another business told RFA.

“When I submit an application form for a permit, I can say to an official, ‘Please look at this application form. When it’s done, I’ll buy you a beer or two.’ Then I give him 300,000 kip ($25), the cost of one or two beers, for his service,” the source said.

A Lao economist told RFA that the report did not uncover anything out of the ordinary.

“For many people who don’t know about Laos, the ADB report looks negative. But for those who are used to it, kickbacks are normal because this kind of practice is a problem in every country in the world,” the economist said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

“For example, when officials perform inspections for safety, labor practices or environmental impact of a factory, the factory owner would have to pay the inspectors cash and never receive a bill or receipt. The inspectors put the money in their pockets. The money is not a fee charged by the government,” he said, adding that foreign investors might not want to do business under that type of system.

“For investors who are already here, the extra expenses in the form of kickbacks add up and increase the cost of doing business.”

Solutions

Kickbacks are often necessary because officials depend on them for much of their income, an official of the Lao Finance Ministry told RFA.

“They take the kickbacks to make a living. I cannot deny that,” he said. “It’s getting worse in the current economic situation. The government is tackling this practice head-on in hopes of reducing it little by little.”

The Lao Chamber of Industry and Commerce suggested in the ADB report that the government should step up training for its employees and switch from a system requiring person-to-person contact to an online processing method.

In Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index, which measures public sector corruption on a scale of 0 (“highly corrupt”) to 100 (“very clean”), Laos received a score of 30, placing it in 128th place among 180 countries.

The least corrupt countries were New Zealand, Denmark, and Finland, each with score of 88, while the most corrupt was South Sudan, with a score of 11.

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Between Apr 4 and 6, Lao Ambassador to Vietnam Sengphet Houngbounyouang and members of the National Assembly of Vietnam’s Foreign Affairs Committee led by its chairman Vu Hai Ha visited Son La, a northwestern province of Vietnam.

Meeting with leaders of Son La, the Lao ambassador was informed about the socio-economic development, national defense and public security, external affairs, and the implementation of the agreements reached by leaders of Laos and Vietnam in the province.

The ambassador appreciated the achievements recorded by Son La in all areas and highly valued the assistance from Son La province to northern provinces of Laos, especially training for Lao students, science and technology transfer for agricultural development in the Lao provinces.

He expressed his belief that Son La will continue to strengthen its cooperation with the Lao northern provinces, and help Huaphan Province of Laos upgrade Pahang border checkpoint into an international border gate.

The ambassador also visited Laos-Vietnam revolutionary historical relic site, and Pahang-Long Sob border gate between Huaphan of Laos and Son La of Vietnam, and attended a baci ceremony, a ritual held on the occasion of Lao New Year, in Moc Chau, Son La.

The ceremony was also joined by leaders of Son La province, representatives of Laos-Vietnam Inter-Parliamentary Committee, the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, and relevant officials of both sides.

The ambassador’s visit aimed to promote the celebration of the two historic days of Laos and Vietnam: the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties and the 45th anniversary of the signing of the Laos-Vietnam Treaty of Amity and Cooperation and strengthening the great relations, special solidarity and comprehensive cooperation between the two Parties, two governments and two peoples of Laos and Vietnam.

Source: Lao News Agency