The seventh National Social Economic Development Plan, to cover 2012-16, was approved at the LPRP congress in March. The plan targets an average annual income per head of US$1,700 and the raising of K120trn (US$15bn) in external funding, of which US$10bn is targeted to come from the private sector and US$5bn from public funding. Laos continues to depend on foreign aid, and the plan stipulates that US$4bn of this public funding is to be secured through overseas development assistance. Aid inflows over the past four years have averaged around K3.6trn a year. To secure the desired income, ambitious goals have been set. An annual growth target of 15% has been set for the industrial sector, which it is hoped will enable the sector to provide 39% of GDP by 2016 (from 23% in 2009) and generate 14,000 jobs. The equivalent figures set for the service sector were annual growth of 6.5%, provision of 38% of GDP and the creation of 53,000 new jobs.

The plan also calls for closer regulation of foreign labour, as the government is keen to curb rising immigration, particularly from China and Vietnam. Compliance with existing regulations is to be scrutinised regarding worker quotas, application and registration processes, work and residency permit regulations, and tax payments by foreign workers. The quota for manual workers hired from abroad must comprise less than 10% of the total number of labourers with a company or project, while the quota for white-collar staff stands at 20% of the total. Foreigners are permitted to work in Laos for two years and may then extend their contract for a further two or four years. These regulations have so far been largely ignored by all but the most high-profile companies requiring foreign labour in Laos, and various authorities may continue to turn a blind eye.

The industry and commerce minister, Nam Viyaketh, has acknowledged that Laos needs to amend a number of laws so that they meet international standards before the country will be granted membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)-a long-standing government target. For example, the country's law on intellectual property cannot be properly enforced, as a prime ministerial decree is required to clarify its general wording. Such a decree is now being processed. In April the chairman of the working party on WTO accession, Zhang Xiangchen, told the Lao foreign affairs minister, Thongloun Sisoulith, that Laos is making good progress in its preparations for joining the organisation. This progress consists of legislation reforms and new bilateral trade negotiations with individual WTO members. Laos has bilateral trade agreements with China, Japan, South Korea and Canada and is in discussions over a deal with the EU. US sources providing assistance to Laos's accession preparations estimate that the WTO may accept the country by the end of 2012.