Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) – From 2026 to 2030, the Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce will prioritize governance reform, sustainable resource management, and increasing national revenue, striving to transform the Lao Mining Development Corporation (LMD) into a modern and competitive pillar enterprise in the mining sector.
To advance these priorities, the Lao Ministry of Industry and Commerce convened a special meeting on January 22nd to discuss the LMD 2026-2030 development plan and to draw on the experiences and lessons learned from state-owned enterprise reforms in Laos and other countries. The meeting, chaired by Minister of Industry and Commerce Marathon Kongmasit, focused on translating relevant national policies into concrete development measures for LMD over the next five years.
This LMD development plan will be guided by the Lao Government's "Vision 2040" and the "Mineral Development Strategy 2030" promulgated by Prime Minister's Decree No. 194/PM. These two frameworks will form the core of Laos's mining development roadmap, promoting steady progress in the mining sector in accordance with green and sustainable development principles.
Marathon Khonmasit stated that the mining industry is a pioneering sector of the Lao economy, a major source of national revenue, and a key driver of national development, making significant contributions to poverty reduction, infrastructure construction, and balanced national growth. He acknowledged that LMD has made progress in attracting investment and securing state ownership in several large mining projects, but the industry still faces numerous challenges, including cumbersome coordination procedures, insufficient environmental sustainability, and low operational efficiency.
Marathon stressed that these issues must be effectively addressed to ensure that the government and the people receive full and equitable benefits from mining operations. To this end, he outlined LMD's five-year operational reform plan: transforming the company into a modern, transparent, and competitive institution; strengthening corporate management, improving internal auditing systems, reducing process delays, and enhancing accountability; establishing strict joint venture standards requiring partners to possess sufficient capital, advanced technology, and sound ethical standards; and instructing relevant departments to strengthen their advisory functions, creating a more flexible operating environment for LMD through enhanced coordination and revision of relevant laws, overcoming geological data constraints, ensuring full and lawful tax collection, and comprehensively improving the governance of the mining industry.
To ensure the effective implementation of the five-year reform plan, Marathorn called for the establishment of a continuous monitoring and evaluation mechanism with clearly defined key performance indicators, and demanded regular progress reports to the leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce. The meeting reiterated the Lao government's unwavering commitment to reforming the mining industry and making it a strategic driver of national economic growth.
