In 2015, Lao PDR is virtuallyunrecognizable from what it was just a decade ago. A moreopen, more outward trade landscape has transformed thecountry from a closed-off backwater into a fast-growingdeveloping country, complete with coffee shops, restaurants,and billboards lining the streets of what is now a muchbusier and more lively Vientiane. Rural-urban migration isunderway as non-agricultural opportunities are on the rise.Importers and exporters are experiencing an increasing levelof government transparency. Customs operations are nearlyfully automated and border clearance times have beendrastically reduced. As a crowning achievement—and after 15years of negotiations, Lao PDR is now a member of the WorldTrade Organization (WTO), with its eyes set on establishingitself as an equal partner in the Association of SoutheastAsian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC). Thesituation has improved to such an extent that the countryhas become a model for other Least Developed Countries(LDCs) undertaking trade reform. Optimism is in the air, andreformers know that having come so far there is still atremendous amount to be done. Within the context of acomplex and largely incomplete transition from a planned toa market economy, the strides taken by the Lao government inthe relatively niche area of trade policy reform and tradefacilitation merit attention. The country still has manyvisceral challenges to overcome. Trade reform is much lessvisible, quite often not a front-page story, and rarelycapable of changing people’s fortunes overnight. Rather, itis a process of deliberate, subtle changes that over timeprovide the atmosphere for a country to bloom, and Lao PDRis blooming. Understanding the scope and scale of reformthat has occurred in order for the country to reach thispoint is not always easy. Without looking back over the lastfew years, without peering deeper into the structures thathave changed, it is possible to miss just how remarkablethis story truly is.
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