Workshop on Recommendations for Improving Investment Climate in Laos

(KPL) Laos is ranked as the second most difficult country for carrying out any business in the region but Timor-Leste is ranked as the most difficult. This ranking was made by the World Bank Group, said a foreign expert at a workshop held in Vientiane yesterday.
The workshop, “Recommendations for Improving Investment Climate in Laos,” was chaired by the Vice-Minister of Planning and Investment, Mr Bounthavy Sisouphanthong.
The reason for this was the longer and procedurally more complex methods that applicants had to carry out for property registration and it was more time-consuming than the average time span of the other countries of the region, said Mr Bounthavy.
He said the government policies and accompanying legal and regulatory framework were important factors in encouraging investment because the private sector wanted to minimise the cost and risks of doing business in a country.
Mr Russell Muir, Sector Leader for the IFC’s Business Enabling Environment Programme for East Asia and the Pacific urged the replacement of the current transfer tax and the registration fee with a low flat fee.
He advised that there was a need to register all property records in one agency, to eliminate the need to publish property transactions and to make notarization of the sale-purchase contract optional.
Mr Bounthavi said, ”We should abolish the requirement for approval from relevant ministries before company registration, give power to the registrar to approve articles of association and abolish the requirement to obtain establishment license for manufacturers and that the implementation of such steps would increase the number of business start-ups.”
Mr Muir said that there was a need to replace court declaration with sworn self-declaration at the Enterprise Registration Office, combine application for signage with registration at the Enterprise Registration Office, eliminate approvals for and make optional the company seal requirement and consolidate registrations for VAT and corporate income taxes.

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