ALB Insights has published an article on the legal market in Laos, quoting extensively from Santhapat Periera, a partner in Tilleke & Gibbins’ corporate and commercial group.

The article covers a number of the Lao government’s initiatives to promote key industries for development. Santhapat is quoted as saying that “[t]he Lao authorities have focused on increasing tourism, and they are firmly providing support for the tourism sector. Eco-tourism could become the hallmark of Laos. Infrastructure-related to hotels and accommodations is also on the rise, new franchises are keeping an eye on the market to seek opportunities, and a few mergers and acquisitions have taken place.”

The article goes on to explain the rise in transport and infrastructure project, in light of Laos’ declared intention to become a ‘land-linked’ nation for Asia. Santhapat elaborated on this, pointing out that “Laos sits on the crossroads of a number of planned transcontinental transport infrastructure projects, including China’s One-Belt-One-Road plan, and ASEAN plans to link the Vietnamese coast with India via Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar.”

Finally, the article discusses the rise in intellectual property work which Tilleke & Gibbins has seen in the jurisdiction, with Santhapat noting that “IP is relatively nascent in Laos and not widely known, and therefore our clients often wish to know about the solidity of the IP regulatory framework.”

ALB Insights is the newsletter produced by Thomson Reuters publication, Asian Legal Business.