For three years, fiscal 1995-97, the Sasakawa Southeast
Asia Cooperation Fund undertook a project called
Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and the AFTA Process:
Assistance Program for Training and Research, to
facilitate the transfer of know-how from neighboring
countries to the Fund's four target countries with a view to
promoting the smooth management of their economies
within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN). In Laos, after ASEAN membership was attained
in July 1997, the National Economic Research Institute
(NERI) was set up under the State Planning Committee,
and work began in earnest to strengthen that country's
economic planning capabilities.
The present three-year project provides capacity
building for NERI personnel and other economic
policymakers. This year, five trainees, mainly from NERI,
were selected to go further than last year's trainees,
undertaking advanced study of macroeconomics,
microeconomics, econometrics, and other relevant
subjects under the supervision of the Malaysian Institute
of Economic Research, the grant recipient. Afterward the
trainees carried out surveys and prepared papers on
foreign exchange policy and promotion of tourism.