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The National Assembly (“NA”) approved the draft amendment to Lao PDR’s national constitution. The key changes relate to nationality and petition, in which the draft gives the obligation in making proposals to the president. Three new chapters which are about local people's assemblies, state auditing and the National Election Committee, and 21 articles were added in the proposed amendments to the constitution. The draft constitution has 11 chapters, and is divided into 98 articles. The right of proposing appointees to the post of Supreme People’s Prosecutor State Audit head will also be given to the president.
The NA’s role as the highest state power holder has been preserved in the draft. Similarly, the balancing mechanism of state power has been preserved, with the NA as the overseer of government and administrative bodies and the Lao Front for National Construction as the overseer of the NA.
Other interesting amendments relates to the rights on land and other natural resources.
This is the second time that the constitution is being amended since its promulgation in 1991. The first amendment took place in 2003.
Besides the amendment to the Constitution, the NA session also approved four newly drafted laws, as well as the proposed amendments to existing laws. The newly drafted laws are the Law on Provincial People’s Assembly, Law on Anti-human Trafficking, Law on National Defence, and the Law on Civil Servants and Government Employees. The amended laws are the Law on National Assembly, Law on Election of National Assembly and Provincial People’s Assembly, Law on Government, Law on Local Administration, Law on Taxation, Law on Government Investment, and the Law on State Budget.
Laos and Australia have agreed to continue their close cooperation on regional issues at high-level official talks. The bilateral consultations, the first for over six years, provided an opportunity for both countries to review the full spectrum of two-way cooperation, and to discuss Association of Southeast Asian Nations (“ASEAN”) and regional issues.
This is an excellent chance for Laos and Australia, as two close neighbors with a long-standing friendship, to share our perspectives on regional issues. As a close partner of Laos and ASEAN’s oldest dialogue partner, Australia looks forward to working closely with Laos as ASEAN chair in 2016. Laos will have much to contribute to ASEAN’s integration agenda, as Australia enters the first year of the ASEAN Economic Community (“AEC”). Australia is pleased to be able to support their preparations over recent months.
Australia had reaffirmed its commitment to Laos’s socio-economic development, particularly in education and trade and business reform. Laos, on the other hand, welcomed Australia’s long-standing support over the past five decades, and discussed the future scope of existing cooperation between our police, defence and immigration departments. Both sides agreed to take action to strengthen two-way trade and investment in Laos, including through further business climate reform to attract new quality investors from Australia.
The Australian government would continue to encourage Australian firms to consider opportunities in Laos in mining and mining services, transport and logistics, hydropower, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and legal and financial services.
Please note that whilst the information in this Update is correct to the best of our knowledge and belief at the time of writing, it is only
intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter and should not be treated as a substitute for specific professional advice.
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