In 2015, Lao PDR is virtually unrecognizable from what it was just a decade ago. A more open, more outward trade landscape has transformed the country from a closed-off backwater into a fast-growing developing country, complete with coffee shops, restaurants, and billboards lining the streets of...

Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, complimented the impressive work of agencies like the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. Japan is a big player everywhere in the world. The World Bank depends heavily on Japanese financial markets...

The purpose of this policy note is to present reform options on cabotage liberalization. The goal of cabotage liberalization is to help i) foster more competition in the domestic shipping industry, ii) reduce shipping cost, and iii) improve efficiency, maritime services, and safety standards....

As part of the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) program for Trade-Related Assistance to Least Developed Countries (LCDs), which Myanmar joined in April 2013, the Government of Myanmar has asked the World Bank Group (WBG) to be the implementing agency for a Diagnostic Trade Integration Study...

In the last decades, slow growth and job creation have encouraged emigration, further dampening domestic sources of growth in Nepal. Tepid growth over the past decade, the slowest in the region, has resulted in few jobs being created, leading to more Nepalese workers seeking opportunities...

The rise of global value chains (GVCs) is one of the most important transformation in global trade and investment occurred in the last decades. Once concentrated among a few large economies, global flows of goods, services, and capital now reach an ever larger number of economies worldwide....

In 2010 or 2011, Nepal set up a cash incentive scheme for exporters aimed at reducing its trade deficit and vulnerability to external shocks, by promoting export growth and diversification for its firms. The Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice has been partnering with the Government of...

As a small, landlocked economy, Nepal's development prospects are closely tied to its ability to increase integration in the regional and global marketplace. Despite significant changes in Nepal's trade sector over the past decade, the country's export performance has remained poor, with exports...

This report examines how Nepal could move away from a remittance-driven growth model by reforming its trade policies to increase competitiveness. It looks at the extent to which Nepal has been tapping into its trade potentials, the underlying obstacles that it faces, and the type of reforms that...

This study examines the relevance of trade facilitation reforms in maximizing the economic impactof infrastructure connectivity investments through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It providesan overview of trade facilitation performance in BRI economies, with a focus on those...