Background

A non-profit organisation (“Organisation”) with headquarters in the United States provides healthcare trainings in many countries and would like to conduct similar activities in Laos.

Questions from the Organisation

1. What is permitted and suitable mode of operation for a foreign non-profit organisation to conduct healthcare trainings in Laos?
2. Does the Organisation need to have a local partner to conduct the proposed activities?
3. If it is required to establish an entity in Laos, what would be the process?

Mode of Operation

As operations of foreign non-profit organisations in Laos is still quite a sensitive area, it appears that the only option for such organisations to conduct activities in Laos is to establish so-called “international non-governmental organisation” or “INGO” in partnership with the relevant Lao PDR ministry.

Local Partner

As mentioned above, it is required for a foreign non-profit organisation to partner with a relevant ministry in Laos to conduct activities. In this case, in order to do healthcare trainings, the Organisation needed to partner with the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Establishment Process

A foreign non-profit organisaiton wishing to conduct activities in Laos needs to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the local partner. In this case, the Organisation drafted, negotiated and signed the MOU with the MOH.

Further steps, the Organisation needed to undertake, are discussed in detail in the description of the INGO registration on our website.  Accordingly, the process includes, among others, the obtaining of the following documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

• Operation Permit;
• Project Approval; and
• Project Office Approval.

The Organisation went ahead with the above steps, the INGO was successfully registered and was able to operate in Laos.