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Seminar shines light on decree to create public companies
State enterprise operators and government officials gathered in Vientiane yesterday for a two-day seminar to generate ideas for the draft decree on transforming state enterprises into public companies.
The seminar, hosted by the Ministry of Finance and presided over by Deputy Minister Mr Santiphab Phomvihane, was attended by 200 participants from various ministries and state-owned enterprises from Vientiane and the provinces of Vientiane and Borikhamxay.
The Lao Securities Exchange (LSX) is vital to the government achieving its socio-economic development plan for 2011-2015, as a lot of funds are required.
“Turning state enterprises into public companies is important as it contributes effectively to socio-economic development,” Mr Santiphab said.
He said the aim of the seminar was to generate ideas from various offices and enterprises to ensure the draft decree is effective, implementable, and beneficial for everyone involved.
Even though two state enterprises have listed as public companies on the LSX, there is not yet a decree that acts as a reference.
Mr Santiphab said that turning state enterprises into public companies eases the strain on the government budget as it generates funds from the public, and lessens the need for loans from domestic and foreign banks.
“The draft decree will help state enterprises become more effective and contribute more to national socio-economic development.”
The draft decree, consisting of 13 parts with 44 articles, was presented to the government last year and is based on lessons learned from neighbouring countries, and advice provided by international organisations.
The draft decree covers objectives, measures and conditions for turning state enterprises into public companies, information for the relevant committee, ways to improve accounting prior to the changeover, fund estimates for enterprises, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), public company management, policy for public companies and staff, payment reports and monitoring, dispute settlements and compensation for contributors and measures for rule violations.
The meeting also highlighted the achievements of the first two state enterprises - EDL Generation (EDL-Gen) and BCEL bank (BCEL) - to list on the LSX. Their shares are sold through the two brokers Lane Xang Securities Public Company and BCEL-KT Securities Limited.
The LSX is a cooperation between the Lao government, which holds 51 percent, and a Korean company, which holds 49 percent. The building opened on October 10, 2010, with share trading beginning on January 11, 2011.
vientiane times
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