Lao PDR : Trade and Transport Facilitation Assessment

In Lao People's Democratic Republic
(PDR), the value of trade has risen rapidly over the last
decade with both imports and exports increasing by average
annual rate of 24 percent. This report examines the trade
logistics of Lao PDR. A trade and transport facilitation
assessment was performed using a standardized toolkit and
methodology developed by the World Bank to evaluate the
quality of the logistics services. The assessment focused on
the services used by these trades and the corridors used by
these services. The assessment gave specific attention to
two constraints on trade, the location of the country and
the size of the trade. The study is organized in three
interrelated parts: assessing the performance of the
logistics sector; the international trade corridors linking
Lao PDR to trade gateways in Thailand; and the supply chains
used for distribution of exports. This report is presented
in four sections. The first part examines the foreign trade
of Lao PDR, the opportunities for growth and the logistics
services in the movement of imports and exports between the
country and its major gateways. The second section evaluates
the performance of the corridors connecting the major
origins and destinations in the country and the principal
seaport used for international trade. The third section
analyses the structure and performance characteristics of
the supply chains used for selected trades and the
implications for restructuring to support growth in the
export trade. The final section presents a series of
recommendations for improving the competitiveness of the
exports through improvements in the structure of the supply
chains, the logistics services used by these supply chains,
and the corridors used by these supply chains.