아세안

Laos(Lao PDR, Lao People's Democratic Republic) became the 158th member of WTO in February 2013. Even if the WTO accession could be evaluated as the Lao significant performance in the pursuit of reform and openness for long period, Laos also should cope with the new challenges and difficult tasks. The study tried to analyze the process of Lao WTO accession(the past), the Lao governmental response for the WTO accession(the present), and the Lao challenge after WTO accession. In the procedure of WTO accession, it focused on to describe the economic background, main issues as well as mutual agreement of both Laos and WTO representatives. In the policy response of Lao, it would be separated into industrial, trade & investment, regional policies to examine the Laos' progress of WTO accession. For the Laos' task after WTO accession, it has suggested the obvious improvement of Lao governance, the appropriate application of revised system. In conclusion, while the advantage and disadvantage of Lao accession to the WTO has not been clear of the short term, it could play a great role in catalyzing to strengthen the competitive power in Lao public and private sector through the practical improvement of law and system, the transparency of the policy decision and the procedure in the long term.