Lao – US Business Opportunities: Making NTR a Reality workshop

Vientiane, Lao PDR – December 14 – 16, 2005

The Fund for Reconciliation and Development in cooperation with the Lao Ministry of Commerce and the Lao Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a two and a half day workshop in Vientiane Lao PDR from December 14 – 16, 2005. The workshop “Lao – US Business Opportunities: Making NTR a Reality brought together 200 representatives of business and government from the United States and Laos. HE Soulivong Daravong, the Lao Minister of Commerce chaired the workshop meetings. The workshop was made possible by a grant from the Mekong program of the Rockefeller Foundation based in Bangkok.

Attending the workshop were more then 70 Laotian Americans who are interested in developing business ties with their homeland. They came from California, Wisconsin, Hawaii, Minnesota, North Carolina, Washington, Virginia, Kansas and Maryland. The majority were from the Hmong ethnic group, in addition to ethnic Khmu, Mien and Lao. The largest group were members of US-Laos Economic Cooperation, an association of Laotian American businesses that is in the process of being formally established.

Many of the Laotian Americans traveled to the provinces of Luang Prabang, Luang Namtha, Bokeo, Odomsay, Xieng Khoang, Savanaket and Pakse before and after the workshop in order to explore business opportunities and to source Lao products that they could sell in their home communities. Their business interests included purchasing handicrafts and agricultural goods to sell in their retail shops back home, production of furniture and wood products, coffee growing and processing, investing in rubber and tree plantations, garment industry, film and media, education, real estate development and cattle raising. Some of the Laotian – American businesses signed MOUs for business projects with Lao government and private sector partners.

Also attending were approximately 100 Lao who are interested in developing business links with the United States and approximately 30 representatives of Lao government officials responsible for bilateral trade, agriculture, tourism and education. A number of representatives of US businesses based in Laos and Thailand also attended.

All of the participants covered their own international and domestic travel costs, housing, etc.

The workshop consisted of a day of meetings and visits with Lao businesses in Vientiane on December 14^th hosted by the Lao Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The official workshop was opened on December 15^th with speeches by HE Soulivong Daravong, the Lao Minister of Commerce and HE Patricia Haslach, US Ambassador to the Lao PDR. Somsavadh Lengasavadh, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of the Lao PDR hosted an evening dinner on December 15^th including entertaining the participants by singing traditional Lao songs and dancing the Lam Vong.

The workshop sessions included panels and discussions about the Lao social economic situation today, the rules and regulations of doing business with Laos, the growth of organic agriculture in Laos, and the role of Laotian Americans in investment in Laos and as a market for Lao products. Ann Bacher, Senior Commercial Officer and Russ Nicely, Agriculture Attache came up from the US Embassy of Thailand to speak about the US government programs in place to foster business in and with Laos. Mennonite Central Committee and Apheda spoke about the role of NGOs in the development of the private sector. Also addressing the workshop were representatives of the US and Lao government, the Lao private sector – both foreign and domestic businesses, the World Bank, and ADB. Participants broke up into smaller groups according to business interests during the 1 ½ hour lunch breaks.

The workshop proceedings while substantively useful for those who participated were not as important in many ways as the fact that the event took place in Vientiane and that such a large delegation of Laotian – Americans participated. This was the largest delegation of Laotian Americans traveling to Laos to date. This would not have been possible prior to the granting of NTR to Laos, not simply because NTR enabled the workshop participants to discuss concrete business opportunities but also because the struggle to grant NTR unified a very diverse Laotian American community. The desire to move beyond NTR to continue to work together to explore business opportunities in Laos and bring the two countries closer together was evident at the workshop. The workshop was important in order to move forward the momentum that had developed in the Laotian American community with the struggle to get NTR granted in 2003-4, followed by the nationwide visit to the US by the Lao Minister of Commerce in April 2005 moving forward.

Also important was the fact that there was a high level participation from the Lao government and US embassy. By having the “stamp of approval’ on the workshop by the US embassy and the Lao government many Laotian Americans were felt comfortable in traveling to Laos for the event. This applied particularly to those who had not returned to Laos since leaving in 1975 as refugees. Some of the Laotian American who participated in the workshop, had not supported NTR during the struggle to grant NTR. After meeting Minister Soulivong and the delegation of Lao business representatives in April they became interested in coming to Laos for the workshop in order to see for themselves what Laos was like today and whether or not the would want to pursue business opportunities there.

The granting of NTR to Laos has brought a new opportunity to foster closer relations between the US and Laos and more importantly opened up an avenue of engagement with Laos for the Laotian American community. Many came back not only with the aim of looking for business opportunities but also with humanitarian concern to find ways that they could help their home villages and relatives in Laos. Some even came with funds and books in hand to donate to schools and wats in their home villages.

Participants agreed that there should be some kind of follow-up to the workshop to keep the momentum alive. Suggestions included holding a series of workshops back in the US on the specifics of how to import goods from Laos, food and drug regulations for importing food products, customs regulations and so on. The US Department of Commerce is interested in pursuing these types of workshops. Additional suggestions included more sector specific meetings so that businesses of the same sector would have more time to discuss commercial and investment opportunities. Others suggested that follow-up included exploring ways that cooperation could be developed in other sectors especially in education and training.

There are also several avenues of follow-up that could be pursued through US government channels. The US Department of Commerce is interested in looking at bringing business delegations to the US and from the US to Laos: the US Department of Agriculture is interested finding ways to help US farmers American agricultural goods to Laos and USAID is interested in developing programs to strengthen the business sector in Laos. Both the city of Fresno and the State of Minnesota are exploring the possibility of sending a business delegations to Laos in the future.

The workshop proceedings were digitally video taped and will be made available by the Ministry of Commerce on VCD. Please contact Susan Hammond at shammond@ffrd.org of you would like a copy.