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Headlines:
Halal Stamp to Create a New Export Path
Luxury Chain Sets Up Shop in Luang Prabang
Cassava Rides the Rails
Tourists Flock to the Train, Ticket Tech Lags
Online Dispute System to Clean Up E-Commerce
Tax Modernization Targets Debt Woes
Jobs Shuffle Under High Living Costs
Climate Playbook Gets Regional Stage
Women Farmers Get Climate-Ready Toolkit
Border Crime Crackdown Gets New Tools
China Hunts Cross-Border Scam Gangs
Two Decades of UXO Clearance Pays Off
Chinese Donation Restocks Clinics
Thai Cattle Want the Green Light
Thongloun Joins Tokyo's Future-of-Asia Stage
Halal Stamp to Create a New Export Path
The MSME Promotion Agency is rolling out a USD 130,000 project funded by the Asian Productivity Organization to help local firms win Halal certification and crack Muslim consumer markets. Veunkham Salt, Somxay Coffee, and Dao Heuang Group are the pilot companies in the year-long program, which will teach Islamic dietary compliance and factory standards. Certification will support an increase in exports to Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Middle East, which will go a long way to supporting the government's plan to develop more export-ready small businesses. The effort is in large part a result of 2023 talks with Malaysia's Jakim, which agreed to support Laos to set up its own Halal authority.
Read more: Laotian Times
Luxury Chain Sets Up Shop in Luang Prabang
RJJ Hotels, the joint venture of RIYAZ International and Jin Jiang Hotels, has inked its first management deal in Laos and will run a 100-plus-room luxury property under the Metropolo brand in Luang Prabang from 2026. The group wants 181 management contracts and 108 operating hotels across Southeast Asia within five years, using the labels Renjoy, Ginco, and Jinjiang Inn to cover city and resort destinations. Jin Jiang brings a 10,000-hotel portfolio to the table, while RIYAZ supplies regional know-how, giving the venture buying power and a distribution network.
Read more: Hotel Management Network
Cassava Rides the Rails
The Laos-China Railway has shifted 156,000 tonnes of cassava so far this year, up 43 percent year on year, thanks to a fast-track clearance policy that trims costs and shortens the time necessary to do a Vientiane–Kunming run. Laos harvested 7.4 million tonnes in 2024 and exported 2.4 million, raking in USD 440 million. Officials are courting new factories to turn more roots into starch, ethanol, and animal feed.
Read more: The Star
Tourists Flock to the Train, Ticket Tech Lags
The Kunming–Vientiane high-speed line is filling hotel rooms from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, but many foreigners still cannot book seats online. The system accepts only local phone numbers, limits reservations to three days in advance, and prefers the use of Chinese payment apps, leaving most overseas travelers stuck in a line to buy tickets at the station. Three travel classes and daily departures move crowds smoothly once onboard, but the lack of an international portal, seat selection, and more global card options is keeping a limit on total revenue. Operators are trying to figure out how they can upgrade the system before the 2026 peak season.
Read more: Travel and Tour World
Online Dispute System to Clean Up E-Commerce
Vientiane is setting up an Online Dispute Resolution platform so buyers and sellers can resolve complaints without having to turn to the courts or the police. The platform will introduce a steering committee, training, and regular audits designed to build trust in digital trade. Officials say small businesses will be the big winners once refunds, returns, and fraud cases are able to move faster, as more buyers will have the confidence to shop on their screens instead of markets.
Read more: The Star
Tax Modernization Targets Debt Woes
The Finance Ministry and Asian Development Bank have set up the Domestic Resource Mobilization Modernization Project to digitize tax collection. Cloud-based filing and analytics should lift revenue, cut leakages, and support debt repayments that have been weigh on the local currency, the Lao kip. The project fits in well with the other reforms that the government is undertaking to support economic stability.
Read more: The Star
Jobs Shuffle Under High Living Costs
World Bank phone surveys are showing that employment is at a healthy 97.1 percent in January, up from 94.7 percent a year earlier, with any sort of gender gap almost now non-existent. Inflation eased to 11.2 percent but real wages still fell, pushing workers back into farming or self-employment and driving one-third of migrants to look for work abroad in last year. Remittances currently average about 23 million kip per household (~$1000).
Read more: The Star
Climate Playbook Gets Regional Stage
Laos took the 5th ASEAN Climate Change Partnership Conference in Vang Vieng as an opportunity to direct talks on stronger Nationally Determined Contributions 3.0, Loss and Damage Fund access, and nature-based solutions ahead of COP 30. Days earlier, the Energy Ministry showed off work on a new greenhouse-gas inventory running to 2035 and an updated energy-sector pledge due in September. The action is indicative of a growing desire to match increased power demand with cleaner generation to try and win more climate finance cash.
Read more: Laotian Times (Climate Dialog), Laotian Times (Greenhouse emissions)
Women Farmers Get Climate-Ready Toolkit
Ireland and the World Food Programme are directing EUR 400,000 into 25 villages in Oudomxay, Houaphanh, and Xiengkhouang to help a thousand women develop drought-resistant crops, small-scale irrigation, and savings cooperatives. The project introduces disaster-risk drills, market training, and mini-grants that let households swap vulnerable rice plots for higher-value produce. It is in alignment with Laos' gender and food-security goals and is a good sign of donors leaning on community-led climate work.
Read more: Laotian Times
Border Crime Crackdown Gets New Tools
Work has begun on an USD 8 million customs headquarters and training complex in Vientiane, funded by Washington and managed by UNOPS, to improve anti-smuggling controls and meet FATF standards. Separately, Lao and Thai teams wrapped up a joint inspection of Xayabouly and Bokeo border areas after a recent shoot-out that killed three Lao soldiers. Both efforts are in aid of a reduction on narcotics, wildlife, and money-laundering routes by improving data sharing between police, customs, and prosecutors.
Read more: Laotian Times (Training Facility), Laotian Times (Border Work)
China Hunts Cross-Border Scam Gangs
Beijing has unleashed police teams, diplomatic pressure, and political leverage to break up Chinese syndicates running online scam hubs in the Golden Triangle. Laos is using mix-and-match of tactics: joint raids in some of the more friendly provinces, quiet negotiations elsewhere. Criminals have begun to move further south after Xi Jinping's anti-corruption purge and have started to piggy-back on Belt and Road roads and fiber links. China's campaign seems to be forcing Laos to tighten up its cybercrime laws.
Read more: The Diplomat
Two Decades of UXO Clearance Pays Off
New Zealand's partnership with UXO Lao and Quality Solutions International has cleared nearly 5,000 hectares in Xiengkhouang, reducing annual casualties from 69 in 2008 to five in 2024. Wellington has just promised another USD 5 million to clear a further 1,000 hectares and fund school-based safety classes. Cleared fields are now home to rice paddies, grazing land, and rural roads, freeing 420,000 residents from the daily risks of getting blown up.
Read more: Asia Media Centre
Chinese Donation Restocks Clinics
The Health Ministry received medical gear and vaccines worth CNY 10 million from the China-Asia Economic Development Association and a private investor. Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone thanked the donors and invited more Chinese money into the minerals and crop processing industries. Supplies are expected o make their way to provincial hospitals that are still struggling with basic equipment shortages.
Read more: Medical Buyer
Thai Cattle Want the Green Light
Thailand's Livestock Department is talking with officials in Laos and Vietnam to lift bans on Thai cattle that were recently put in place after an anthrax case killed one person in Thailand’s Mukdahan province. Thailand normally ships as many as 15,000 head a month worth about USD 13 million and is promising tighter farm standards to reassure regulators and buyers. Exporters (self-interestedly) say that the freeze is causing losses for traders in Lao border towns.
Read more: Asia News Network
Thongloun Joins Tokyo's Future-of-Asia Stage
President Thongloun Sisoulith will share Laos's growth plans at Nikkei's 30th Future of Asia forum on 29-30 May, where leaders are expected to debate trade rifts, Korean politics, and the grinding Myanmar problem. Vientiane is looking at the event as a shop window for investment pitches and a chance to lobby for climate finance in advance of COP 30.
Read more: Laotian Times
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading.
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