The month-long arrangement is due to dry weather which has severely affected water levels in Johor’s Sungai Layang dam, and will not affect the water supply in Singapore in the short term, national water agency PUB said yesterday.

Dry conditions have also brought water levels in the Linggiu Reservoir to a historic low of 33 per cent, down from 40 per cent in April, PUB said.

The PUB-operated reservoir improves the yield of water from the Johor River, which helps to meet half of Singapore’s water needs. The republic draws up to 250mgd of raw water from the river, and supplies Johor with treated water in return.

The temporary increase, which is being supplied by the PUB-operated Johor River Waterworks, brings Singapore’s supply of treated water to its closest neighbour to 22mgd.

From last August to January this year, PUB supplied an additional 5mgd to 6mgd of potable water to Johor under an arrangement similar to the present one.

Professor Asit Biswas, founder of the Third World Centre for Water Management, does not foresee any problems for Singapore with such an arrangement over the short to medium term.

But the distinguished visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore cautioned that Singapore’s per capita daily consumption of 150 litres is “far too high”.

He said water conservation efforts in Singapore and Johor can be improved through economic, social and other changes.

The slump was blamed on recent fluctuations in international foreign exchange markets, including China’s devaluation of its yuan by 0.45 per cent, which saw it drop to its lowest level in the last five years.

Speculation that the US Federal Reserve could hike interest rates possibly this month was another factor.

But some market observers believed that the dollar’s rise could be short-lived since it was caused by banks buying the greenback to balance their foreign currency positions.

A day later the dong gained against the dollar though the average daily interbank exchange rate fixed by the central bank edged upwards.

On Tuesday the dollar fell by 20-25 dong to 22,425-22,430 dong. Vietcombank bought the currency at 22,360 dong and sold it at 22,430 dong, down 20 dong from the previous day.

On the unofficial market in Ho Chi Minh City, the dollar was bough at 22,380 dong and sold at 22,420 dong, down 70 dong from Monday.

The forex rates have still been remarkably stable this year although late last year the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) begun a new foreign exchange management mechanism to cope with changes in the market, especially the global market.

Under it, the reference rate, or the inter-bank exchange rate, will be managed more flexibly and could changed regularly, even daily. The central bank manages the foreign exchange market through a relatively stable inter-bank rate and daily trading bands.

Some analysts said the stability in the forex rate is not exactly good for domestic firms because the dong has been appreciating even as many countries recently devalued their currencies.

This has put great pressure on Vietnamese exporters in terms of prices in overseas markets.

The depreciated yuan has brought China’s exports a big advantage by making Chinese products very cheap.

For instance, on May 30 the central parity rate of the yuan weakened by 294 basis points to 6.5784 to the US dollar, the lowest level since February 2011.

This is expected to affect Vietnam’s exports and imports because when the yuan becomes weaker than the dong, Chinese goods imported into Vietnam will be cheaper and more competitive than Vietnamese items.

Vietnamese garment exporters could lose out since their foreign orders will go to China when prices there will be cheaper.

The Vietnamese central bank should adjust the forex rate more flexibly in ways that can weaken the dong against other currencies.

Besides, the government should rethink some other foreign exchange policies including the interest rate for dollar deposits, compulsory reserves and the foreign exchange position.

It is also necessary for the central bank to soon develop a foreign currency market to meet businesses’ and individuals’ demand for foreign currencies.

Tourism firms demand continued visa waiver

In April the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism urged the government to increase the visa waiver period for tourists from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain from the current one year to five years and double their period of stay to 30 days to attract more visitors.

The ministry also asked the government to consider waiving visas for people from 13 more nations, all key tourism markets for Vietnam, and issue visas online and on arrival to make it easier for visitors.

Tourism industry insiders said though there are still some limitations to the visa waiver policy, it has yielded positive results.

The visa waiver policy was instituted in July last year and comes to a close at the end of this month.

The administration is hoping the visa exemption and some tourism stimulus programmes will attract 1.1 million arrivals from those markets in the next three years, up 50 per cent from 2015.

According to the General Tourism Department, since the waiver until last March the number of tourists from the five countries shot up by 14 per cent to 555,000 against an average annual growth of 5.35 per cent in 2010-14. The additional spending by the visitors is estimated at around US$171 million.

The biggest concern for tourism firms now, as the deadline approaches, is whether the government will increase the waiver duration.

It is not just domestic firms that are focused on the visa waiver policy. Many overseas tourism businesses too want to know about it, and inquired at international tourism fairs like Germany’s ITB Berlin and the UK’s WTM.

According to the World Economics Forum’s tourism competitiveness in 2015, Vietnam was in 75th place out of 141 countries in the 2014-2015 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index rankings.

In the open index, the Vietnamese tourism sector was in a high 19th position out of 119 countries in visa procedures.

Experts said the government should make an early decision on visa waivers to help the tourism sector capitalise on the opportunities brought by the upcoming peak season.

For Westerners the holiday period often begins in October and they are prone to making their travel plans very early, even a year ahead.

An early decision by the Government on visa waiver will enable foreign tourism firms to put Vietnam in their 2016-17 promotional programmes.

But market observers said visas are just one of several hurdles facing the tourism industry.

To compete with foreign rivals and ensure development, local tour operators must develop new products to meet demand and create opportunities for foreign visitors to learn about Vietnamese culture and explore nature.

Cost is also a factor in attracting more tourists, so the prices of the new products should be lower than normal products.

Vietnam should organise effective tourism promotion programmes in overseas markets, especially the five Western European countries, and information campaigns on tourism stimulus programmes in those markets.

Stock brokerages race to hike capital as derivatives trading looms

Mirea Asset Wealth Management Securities (Vietnam) Limited Liability Company has increased its chartered capital from 300 billion dong ($13.33 million) to 700 billion dong ($31.11million)

It was among several securities companies that sought various ways to increase their chartered capital to qualify for the participation in the planned derivatives market.

In middle March, the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) and the Viet Nam Securities Depository (VSD) announced that a derivatives market would be set up by the end of this year.

The derivatives market and its trading system will be designed with three functions: member management, recording transactions and statistics, and risk warning and prevention. It can handle 15,000 payment transactions per minute from at least 600,000 accounts.

The market aims to help investors identify and mitigate risks, and diversify into other investment channels.

The share indexes (HNX30 and VN30) and five-year government bonds will be the first two products to be traded in the market.

However, to operate in the derivatives market, securities firms have to meet certain criteria.

With a legal capital or equity of over 600 billion dong, a securities company can do proprietary trading, that is to invest its own money in securities.

It must have 800 billion dong to offer derivatives brokerage services.

Capital of 900 billion dong and 1.2 trillion dong will enable it to become a direct or general clearing member respectively.

A general clearing member (GCM) is an entity approved by the clearing house to clear principal transactions and client transactions on behalf of GCM clients.

Significantly, these amounts are higher than most securities companies’ existing capital.

To increase their capital, many securities companies have adopted traditional methods like pumping in more money or issuing shares to some big shareholders, while some others have opted for issuing bonus shares.

There is a concern whether all of them will be successful in increasing their capital.

The director of a securities company in Ho Chi Minh City, who asked not to be named, said his company has been very active in seeking strategic investors to increase its capital and enter the derivatives market, but failed.

The company decided to issue bonus shares to shareholders, but the capital has yet to reach 600 billion dong.

Analysts even suspect that some securities firms have used subterfuge to increase their legal capital by a huge amount within a short time.

This involves borrowing money to temporarily inflate the capital and repaying it after being certified by the SSC as meeting capital requirements.

Another method is to issue bonus stocks to shareholders by cooking up the books to show large profits.

To prevent these disagreeable methods, the SSC needs to work with audit companies and relevant agencies to carefully monitor securities companies’ efforts to increase capital

A senior economist at the National Economic Research Institute, Dr Leeber Leebouapao, told Vientiane Times yesterday that the bulk of people’s earnings is spent on daily necessities and they have little left over to save.

He noted that the cost of food, electricity, education and rent had all risen, despite the high growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and GDP per capita.

“Our economy is growing at a rate of 7.6 percent this year. Our inflation rate is reportedly below 2 percent and our exchange rate is stable. Significantly, the price of fuel is low, so why is the cost of living rising?” Dr Leeber queried.

“I think that the situation in our country is reversing. In principle, a strong economy should reflect rising incomes and the lower price of oil should contribute to a lower cost of living.”

Government sectors have been asked to inspect the pricing structure of various products in Laos, notably those on the government’s list of controlled items.

The rising price of products in markets is putting pressure on local people, especially those who are poor, no matter what the reason for the increase is.

A resident of Donnoun village in Vientiane’s Xaythany district, Ms Ae, said her income was not increasing but her expenses were higher.

“The pri ce of pork has risen from 35,000 kip to 40,000 kip per kg and my children’s school has announced they will put up the fees next academic year,” she said.

Laos is a least developed country with a GDP of 102,320 billion kip (US$12.8 billion), while GDP per capita has climbed to 15.8 million kip (US$1,970) .

Economists point out that the GDP per capita is not the actual income of most Lao people given that it’s an average figure, and many people are still struggling to earn a living.

Generally speaking, poverty-stricken countries like to quote GDP as a measure of economic activity as it is higher than Gross National Income.

But this can be misleading because GDP includes foreign revenues earned on a nation’s soil but the majority of this money is repatriated and therefore does not contribute to the country’s economy.

In Laos, for instance, the country’s economic growth is mainly driven by foreign investment, particularly in natural resources, which has been included in the GDP per capita figure.

Large-scale projects in hydropower, agriculture and industrial development have attracted investors from China, Thailand and Vietnam.

Although the Lao economy has enjoyed a high growth rate in recent years, the growth spurt has not generated job opportunities and boosted the incomes of local people as anticipated.

The figure was made public in the first and biggest conference on the city’s investment and development vision held on Saturday.

The conference attracted some 600 participants including government officials, domestic and foreign enterprise representatives as well as heads of international organisations and economic experts.

The conference was held barely three months after new top leaders in Hanoi came into office.

Such a large figure of investment will largely depend on the private and the FDI sectors – as much as |80 per cent – while the city budget will only focus on frame infrastructure projects or projects in fields |that are exclusively under state control like security or national defence, said Hanoi’s People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Duc Chung.

“The city especially appreciates and calls on investment from the private sector under multiple models,” Chung said.

Infrastructure – one of the 1000-year-old capital’s key investment directions – will get a gigantic amount of money poured into various fields ranging from roads and the drainage network to the power grid and telecommunications in the next five years and is expected to continue on at least until 2050, according to the Hanoi urban master plan.

Urban master plan

Hanoi, for the first time, has had its most detailed urban master plan to 2030 with a vision stretching to 2050, in which a city centre and five satellite towns will be fully connected and provide support to each other for collective growth and development.

The city has so far listed 52 projects under the public-private partnership (PPP) model calling out for investment in the next five years and another 43 projects to be funded by the private sector.

They were estimated at 338.7 trillion dong ($15 billion) and 372.2 trillion dong ($16.5 billion) respectively. “There have been 70 investors lined up to invest in those projects,” Chung said.

Hanoi is setting its eyes on transforming itself into a global financial hub like Hong Kong and Singapore after 2030, said Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung at the conference.

Dung also predicted the capital to become a mega city in less than 20 years due to the current high urbanisation speed and a constant increase of the city population.

The number of city inhabitants was projected to hit about nine |million by 2030, a 40 per cent increase from 6.5 million back in 2009.

Such urban population den-|sity has forced Hanoi to divert its development focus from the city centre to its edges in order to reduce traffic jams and alleviate pressures on the centre’s infrastructure, he said.

“Edge-oriented development with five satellite towns will also open the door for investors in infrastructure, transport and real estate sectors,” he said.

Yet the minister called on the capital to act more on administrative and investment reforms so that it could “pump the financial blood to Hanoi’s enterprises as well as the whole country”.

“We have to make Hanoi a financial hub shoulder-to-shoulder with Hong Kong and Singapore,” he said.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc supported the rising role |of the private sector in the mar-|ket, showing more determination |in minimising the state-owned enterprises’ economic involve-|ment. “What the market does better, let the market do,” he said at the conference.

Government role

” The government instead should focus more on building institutions and restrict intervention into the economic activities by administrative means.”

As Vietnam approaches the status of a middle-income country, its access to grants and official development assistance (ODA) loans are gradually declining, said the ADB Country Director for Vietnam Eric Sidgwick.

“Borrowing pressures have begun to mount and public debt has been approaching the limits of sustainability,” he said.

Median expenditure level for a traveller in Laos is about US$65 a day, while in neighbouring Aseancountries average visitors paid only US$45, President of the Lao Association of Travel Agents, Mr Somphong Deviengxay told Vientiane Times yesterday.

“Until now we cannot decide what the reasons behind the service costs are or why,” he commented.

Some tour companies answered that importing construction materials for hotels and guesthouses as well as foods can inflate the cost, Mr Somphong reported.

He believed that if those tour companies have sufficient products such as vans, hotels or guesthouses and restaurants of their own, they would be able to lower their costs.

Some companies are only agencies to bring tourists but have no products so the cost of service may be high, he observed.

To develop the Lao tourism business sector to progress sustainably and be able to compete within the region, he advised Lao tour agencies to invest further in their products and services.

Investors don’t need to pay large amounts of money for expensive materials as Laos is not a developed country and does not have a large population, he said. Companies only need to provide good services and accommodation to be successful.

“Laos still has a lot of rich natural resources. If we develop and use them properly it will benefit local people and national revenue for socio-economic development,” Mr Somphong said.

The number of hotels, guesthouses, restaurants and entertainment shops as well as tourism companies is continuing to increase but service costs are still high as is the importation of some foods.

One Thai visitor commented 200 baht will buy him two meals in Thailand but in Laos it will buy him only one.

However, the numbers of foreign tourists visiting Laos has increased each year as has service investment according to the information, culture and tourism sector.

In 2014, the service sector covered about 44.2 percent of the country’s GDP and that was expected to further increase, according to a government report.

The number of foreign visitor arrivals in Laos for 2015 reached more than 4 million; large numbers were from China followed by Thailand as well as Korea, Japan, Vietnam and European countries.

The most popular destinations were Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Champassak and Vangvieng, a district in Vientiane province.

The Bill, to be passed this year, is a combination of the Foreign Investment Law and the Myanmar Citizens Investment Law. In addition, the Myanmar Investment Commission (MIC) will be reformed this month.

The MIC can scrutinise and allow tax exemption or relief to investors in order to support equitable development.

Aung Naing Oo, secretary of the MIC and director-general of the Directorate of Investment and Company Administration, said: “Now we are planning to attract a massive inflow of investment. The Bill includes that provision. Investors in less-developed regions shall enjoy tax reductions rather than those in more developed regions. They can get tax relief based on the region and sector. The MIC will fix the rates after seeking the approval from the government and the enactment of the law.”

The MIC will designate less-developed areas as Zone One, moderately developed regions as Zone Two and Zone Three for the areas least in need.

The MIC can give income tax exemptions to investors.

Zone One investors can get tax exemption for seven years, Zone Two for five years and Zone Three for three years.

Leaders from the European Union (EU) have congratulated Duterte for his electoral victory while conveying optimism that the relationship between the EU and the Philippines would prosper under the new administration.

In a congratulatory letter, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that the partnership between the EU and the Philippines is grounded “in a long history and strong mutual interests.”

“We are encouraged by the dynamic development of our relations and look forward to working with you on further strengthening our political, economic, trade and development cooperation,” Tusk and Juncker said.

The EU leaders enumerated various milestones that will involve the Duterte presidency such as the enforcement of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, the first round of negotiation on a Free Trade Agreement, and the granting of better access to EU markets through the EU Generalised Scheme of Preferences.

Tusk and Juncker said that they also support the Mindanao Peace Process and asked the country to support EU’s bid to join the East Asia Summit when it assumes the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2017.

Incoming peace adviser Jesus Dureza said that the Duterte administration will “continue with the gains” of the outgoing government on the Mindanao peace process.

This year marks the 25th year of the EU delegation in the Philippines.

Along street after street in Chau Thanh, a rural district in Long An Province, the unbroken green of dragon fruit farms has replaced the yellow of ripe paddy fields.

The place usually buzzes with activity as lorries, container trucks and tricycles loaded with dragon fruit hurry back and forth between the farms and the slew of fruit processing plants in Tam Vu, a nearby town.

Almost 80 per cent of the fruit harvested here are exported to China, the US, Japan, the EU and other markets.

As people break out into easy smiles, it is not hard to guess that local farmers make a great deal of money for their toil.

It is not yet the peak harvest season, which is a couple of weeks from now.

To outsiders, the talk here seems to be solely about the fruit: on farms, in markets, at coffee shops, and even the party table.

But it should come as no surprise since it has been a source of prosperity for most people here for years. Some even think the fruit has wrought a miracle, turning a poor district with tired, dry soil into a wealthy agricultural area.

There has been a palpable improvement in the economic situation of virtually every household and ward since farmers stopped cultivating paddy a few decades ago and switched to the fruit.

People made the switch since it is not a well irrigated area and rice needs a lot of water whereas dragon fruit plants are more resilient to drought as well as more lucrative. Household followed successful household and the area under the fruit kept expanding until it was dubbed the ‘dragon fruit kingdom’.

The district has around 8,000 hectares of agricultural land, and almost 7,000ha are under dragon fruit. Less than 1,500ha of paddy are left, but clearly their days are numbered.

Across the district, almost everyone is involved with the fruit. This includes migrant workers from other provinces who came here to work on the farms, help package and transport the fruit, sell farm inputs or trade in the fruit.

Chau Thanh used to rank among the poorest districts in Long An, but is now among the wealthiest.

Using traditional poverty measures, only 1 per cent of its population is poor, and this rises to 3.7 per cent if the recent multi-dimensional poverty standards are adopted. But the rate is much lower than that of neighbouring districts, according to the local administration.

Nguyen Van Thinh, the chairman of the Chau Thanh District People’s Committee, recalls that a decade ago authorities had to invest much effort in poverty reduction, offering vocational training courses and creating job opportunities. But now the living conditions of most people have improved, he says.

“The affluence means it is easy for the local government to mobilise funds [from the public] for building infrastructure such as water supply system, roads and others.”

It is fairly common in Vietnam for the people to contribute money and labour for public works, especially in the countryside.

Lives turned upside down

Standing in his three-hectare dragon fruit farm in Phuoc Tan Hung Commune, Nguyen Cong Danh (not his real name), who just earned 1 billion dong (US$45,000) from selling his crop.

Like several other wealthy farmers there, the 45-year-old was afraid of being robbed or even killed if portrayed as rich in the media.

Reluctantly, he agreed to speak, but still insisted that Viet Nam News should take no photos.

After depositing a lot of cash over the years in various banks, “I have to buy gold and hide in my house,” he said.

Nguyen Tien Linh, 27, who persuaded his parents to plant dragon fruit instead of paddy five years ago on their 1ha farm, cannot forget what happened after the first harvest.

“I could not control my hands from shaking while counting 500 million dong (over $22,700) given by a trader who bought out dragon fruit. With paddy, my family earned at most 30 million dong if it was a bumper crop.

“My family is not alone. Now most people in this district live without worrying about money.”

Linh’s mother, Pham Thi Hai, had similar feelings when they got the large amount of money: “My heart was racing the first time. But later it became normal.”

Sitting in her house in An Luc Long Commune, with a smile never far away, she recalled her family’s economic situation was not good before 2010 when they were growing paddy.

The money they got from the harvest would only be enough to meet farming expenses. Her house used to be empty. Little did she dream that one day she would buy a lot of things for the house and have a large sum of money in the bank.

Pointing to new lavish houses in the neighbourhood, Hai said all their owners also grow dragon fruit. There are barely any thatched houses left in her commune, she said.

“I plan to buy more land since I am aware the soil here is highly suitable for dragon fruit. With paddy, the district used to be the poorest in the province.”

Le Nguyen Dang, 36, of the same commune is happy to talk about the good fortune that the fruit bestowed upon his family and the fortuitous manner of his switch from rice farming.

“When all neighbouring farms switched to dragon fruit, I could not grow paddy any more since ploughing and harvesting machines had no way to reach my farm.”

He decided to grow the fruit himself.

He said: “I was shocked when I held a hundred million dong after selling my first harvest. Now, I feel it is normal to get a few hundred millions.”

Some 20 years ago many locals began to grow dragon fruit since paddy was not profitable. But their income was nothing to boast about since the fruit was not exported and was mostly consumed domestically.

In a region that was not the wettest, the hardy fruit became popular and gradually more than 90 per cent of farmlands in the district were brought under it.

Farmers said half-jokingly that the recent drought has brought tears to farmers in other parts of the country, but good fortune to them.

In Binh Thuan Province in the central region, another major dragon fruit-growing area, the crop has been very poor.

Also luckily, Chau Thanh has a river and canals, though this year the saltwater intrusion in them has been unusually intense.

As a result of the poor crop in other places, red dragon fruit prices have skyrocketed to 60,000 dong per kilogram.

Since 2010 the district government has encouraged farmers to grow the fruit, Thinh said.

It plans by 2020 to have all 8,000ha under the fruit, he added.

Large farm

Chau Thanh produces 250,000 tonnes of dragon fruit annually and exports mostly to China, though some portion is also shipped to South Korea, Japan, the US and other markets. The Trans-Pacific Partnership and several other free trade agreements that Vietnam has signed are likely to help expand the market for them.

But exporting to demanding markets like the US, Japan and EU would require an improvement in quality. For this purpose, the district has persuaded farmers to pool together 2,000ha to achieve economies of scale and apply modern technologies.

“In order to better manage the 2,000ha farm, we have decided to establish 20 co-operatives, with each taking responsibility for 100ha,” Thinh said, adding that VietGap quality standards would be adopted.

The project has received strong support from local farmers, who realise it will help them reduce costs and improve quality.

The matter was discussed at a bilateral meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen yesterday.

“Cambodia has expressed interest in allowing Cambodians to work here. We have accepted the offer, particularly for domestic maids.

“We will engage with the Cambodian government soon to allow more of its people to work here as maids,” Najib told a joint press conference with Hun Sen after the meeting.

Hun Sen and his wife Bun Rany were on a four-day official visit to Malaysia.

Cambodia stopped sending domestic workers to Malaysia in 2011 following allegations that some maids had been tortured and abused by their employers.

During the meeting, Najib said it was agreed that economic co-operation and trade volume should be increased “as this has been flat in recent years”.

“There are opportunities for us to increase trade and we have agreed for the joint commission to meet soon,” he added.

Najib commended the Cambodian government for being a good host to Malaysian investors, adding that he has received positive feedback on the treatment and service provided to them.

Investments by Malaysian companies in Cambodia totalled about US$4.3billion.

Phnom Penh was also seeking Putrajaya’s co-operation for investments to be made in the agriculture sector, namely in the production and marketing of rice, and in construction and infrastructure development.

“We are also working to conclude negotiations on an agreement to tackle human trafficking, and have tasked Cambodia’s Ministry of Women Affairs and our Home Ministry to expedite this,” Najib added.

Hun Sen said he wanted to see more Cambodians employed in Malaysia, besides increasing investments, trade and scholarships for his people.

“I would also like to thank Malaysia for providing the opportunity for Cambodians who fled the war to live here.

“I hope they will get training and jobs, and (be able to) bring their experience and knowledge back to our homeland later,” he said.

The instruction was issued at the government’s monthly meeting for May held on May 24-25 at the Prime Minister’s Office and chaired by Thongloun.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Dr Lien Thikeo told local media last week that logging under all approved quotas, including trees that needed to be felled to allow for the construction of infrastructure, must end by June 1.

The halt on logging will allow the government to review the implementation of the logging quota, which was previously approved by the government.

“The prime minister has instructed that no party be allowed to remove wood in Sanam I areas as this will create a loophole for illegal logging,” Lien told a press conference held shortly after the government’s meeting.

The authorities were asked to inspect felled wood in collecting yards known locally as Sanam II to ensure that all the wood had been cut in accordance with the government’s approved quota. All wood must be processed domestically.

Initial information suggests there are more than 68,000 cubic metres of timber in Sanam II in six provinces, according to the minister.

Lien said his ministry will work with the relevant bodies to carry out inspections to determine who owns the logs in the Sanam II and whether the owners have paid the related taxes and fees to the government.

Once the inspections are complete, the authorities are required to report the findings to the government. The government will consider whether to allow further logging in areas where previously approved logging quotas have not been fully met.

Consideration will be given to reopening forests for logging in October, Dr Lien said, referring to the Law on Forests.

The instruction came after Thongloun issued a Prime Ministerial Order banning the export of all types of logs and timber.

The ban aimed to encourage the processing of wood in Laos to add value to wood products and close loopholes for illegal logging.

The order, which was issued on May 13, also bans the export of partially-processed wood, tree roots, root balls, tree branches, dried trees and ornamental plants. State bodies are also prohibited from using timber to finance infrastructure development.

Dr Lien pledged to take strict action to implement the prime minister’s order and penalise anyone found to be violating the order.