The 5-year 9^th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2020-2025), in short 9^th NSEDP, is set in the context of the Lao government’s longer-term planning and in particular the 10-year plan to 2025 and the 2030 Vision. The 9^th NSEDP’s overall priority is graduating from Least Developed Country status.

More specifically, the 9^th NSEDP aims to:

1. The economy is continuously growing, strong and stable;
2. Quality human resources and use of modern technology;
3. Enhanced well-being of the people, the society is liveable;
4. Preservation of natural resources and environment;
5. Effective state management and administration, stable politics and peaceful and orderly;
6. Regional and International Link and Efficiencies.

The 9^th Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2021-2025) aims to translate the Resolution of the 11th Party Congress, as well as continue the implementation of the National Strategy on Socio-Economic Development 2025 and Vision 2030 of the Lao PDR. This Five-Year Plan sets out the fundamental direction for creating a new turning point in socio-economic development in the coming years, particularly ensuring quality establishment of the political-ideological factors, the economic system and the material and technical basis; continuing to recognize economic development as the central task of the entire Party and all citizens, in conjunction with socio-cultural development, including the development of human resources, and strengthening of the existing structural elements such as public governance and administration, national defines, public security and foreign affairs; aiming to develop all potential of the country into spearheading production and service sectors in line with the green and sustainable development direction, improving people’s well-being, ensuring a well-balanced system for international trade and settlement, and ensuring comprehensive preparation for the country’s firm graduation from the Least Developed Country status in the future.

The 9^th NSEDP will continue to address economic and financial difficulties and accelerate the implementation of the Four Breakthroughs including: the breakthrough in creativity; the breakthrough in human resource development; the breakthrough in improving administrative and regulatory mechanisms; and the breakthrough in poverty alleviation in a more proactive, vigorous, and comprehensive manner. The accomplishment of these Four Breakthroughs will help overcome obstacles, difficulties and challenges associated with economic vulnerabilities, debt problems, budget revenue collection, expenditure and investment management, exchange rate fluctuations, inflationary pressures, foreign reserves, commercial production, unemployment and thus prevent the possibility of falling into crisis by ensuring comprehensive economic transformation through extensive economic restructuring, enhancing and effectively utilising the country’s potential, and ensuring that development efforts move in the direction of quality, focused, green and sustainable growth.

• Quality: Quality development is a transformation towards improved efficiency and effectiveness of public investment, public-private partnerships, and domestic and foreign private investment, in line with the direction of socio-economic development goals. Emphasis will be placed on evaluation and prioritisation within priorities, and ensuring that competitive processes are used to select the most qualified enterprises, and continuous monitoring of implementation and assessment is in place. This also will also require transforming and enhancing the competitiveness of production of goods and services to international standards, and creating a skilled, disciplined and healthy workforce that meets market demand and is capable of studying and applying modern scientific and technological research as a driving factor for sustainable development in the age of Industry 4.0.
• Focused: Focused development involves developing the distinct potential of different sectors and regions to be an engine of national development. Public investment will be targeted in line with provincial potential, and in provinces facing difficulties by focusing on building the infrastructure needed to facilitate private sector investment and poverty alleviation. This will help encourage private investment in the production of high-potential commodities, especially in agriculture and agro-processing, handicrafts, tourism, and logistics services, such as dry ports and others, in the provinces with the railway passing through, and utilizing Official Development Assistance in a targeted, verifiable and widely accessible manner.
• Green: Green development is the efficient, effective, and sustainable development and protection of the environment, and management and optimization of limited natural resources for maximum economic benefits, which will help reduce poverty and improve the living standards of the people in an inclusive, comprehensive and equitable manner, while reducing pollution, waste and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reducing the risks and vulnerabilities of the economy to natural disasters and economic volatility.
• Sustainable: Sustainable development ensures that economic development goes hand in hand with socio-cultural development and environmental protection in order to stabilise the economy, diversify production to meet the needs of society, substituting for unnecessary imports and increasing exports, to generate income in line with the country’s comparative advantage. This will help alleviate poverty, improve the quality and sustainability of the social sector development. as well as develop and utilise natural resources carefully, while ensuring the maximum benefit of the nation, and protect the environment by encouraging the participation and contribution of all sectors of society, and ensuring inclusive, equal and equitable benefits, and thereby moving towards self-sufficiency and self-reliance.

The development of the 9^th Five-Year Plan is an outcome of extensive consultation meetings and seminars engaging multi-stakeholders, including concerned sectors, researchers and scientists, development partners, the private sector, and civil society organisations from grassroots to highest level of leadership. Various drafts of the Plan were presented for guidance from several meetings of the Party Central Committee and the Politburo, presented for review at the 10th Ordinary Session of the Eighth National Assembly Legislature and the 11th Party Congress, and the final draft was presented and approved at the inaugural session of the Ninth National Assembly Legislature in accordance with Resolution No. 20/NA, dated 26 March 2021.

On behalf of the Party and the Government of Lao PDR, I would like to express my most sincere appreciation to the National Steering Committee and the Secretariat for formulation of the 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan for their relentless dedication and commitment to the completion of this Five-Year Plan formulation. My special thanks go to the United Nations in Lao PDR for providing technical and financial support for the completion of this Plan in accordance with the defined objectives and expectations. Last but not least, I would like to thank all the line ministries, local authorities, development partners, the private sector, civil society organisations and other stakeholders for their active contributions to the successful development of this Plan. It can be said, therefore, that the 9^th Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan is the result of the collective efforts and joint collaboration of all of us. I sincerely hope that every one of you will continue to extend your support and technical and financial contribution to the successful implementation of the directions, goals and targets set out in this 9^th Five-Year National Socio- Economic Development Plan.