Prof. Hidetoshi Nishimura, Executive Director of ERIA, paid a courtesy call on H.E. Ms. Khemmani Pholsena, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Lao People's Democratic Republic, on 24 September in Vientiane, Laos.

During the meeting, Minister Khemmani recalled that she was invited to the ERIA Capacity Building seminar in July 2013 when she was Vice Minister and said that she was indeed looking forward to meet Prof. Nishimura. She said that ERIA's technical assistance will be very much needed for the future development of Laos and expressed her sincere hopes and expectations for ERIA's contributions and support to Laos' Chairmanship of ASEAN in 2016.

Prof. Nishimura in turn reported on ERIA's recent developments and assured the Minister of ERIA's assistance by highlighting its works and role as the Sherpa organization supporting the ASEAN and East Asia Summit activities.

The discussion then touched on various other topics, in particular, on how to improve the competitiveness of Laos and how to maximize the benefits from regional frameworks such as the AEC and RCEP.