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General policy for fisheries is set out in the Fisheries Management Plan for Suriname 2014 , the main objective of which is to preserve the biological diversity of marine resources and their sustainable exploitation. According to the Plan, sustainable exploitation requires control of the fishing fleet capacity, reduction of unwanted bycatch and bycatch of protected species, greater use of new fishing methods, improved control and monitoring, better quality control for exports of fish and fish products, better data, and greater resilience of stakeholders. While a new fishing law is being drafted, the Plan will continue to be implemented. Although the Plan includes a number of specific measures related to fisheries management (such as registration, licensing and monitoring of fishing vessels, landing obligations, and protected areas), it also states that a specific plan for fisheries control is to be developed.

The 2017-21 Policy Development Plan states that the Fisheries Management Plan is to be implemented as an important instrument for fisheries development and to ensure sustainable fishing.

(...)The Law on Lawmaking ensures that new laws and regulations are drafted in a transparent way and that effects of laws and regulations on the environment and other public goods are accounted for (...)

Lao PDR is well on its way to fulfill the graduation criteria and to pass from the status of an LDC to the one of a developing country (…) Graduation, however, poses new challenges for the sustainable development of Lao PDR as its conditions on the international markets will become more difficult.

The purpose of Lao PDR's policy response to this challenge is to ensure that the graduation is not hampering its sustainable development by (i) identifying possible risks associated with the graduation and (ii) implementing the appropriate measures to respond to this new challenge.

There are four major sources of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) for Lao PDR: (…) LDC specific support: EIF, ACWL as well as some UN funds such as the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the Technology Bank for LDCs, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) LDC Fund (LDCF) among others, are LDC specific. (...) The LDCF: The loss of support from this Fund may well be of great importance to Lao PDR given its big exposure to climate change issues. To be able to implement its climate change mitigation measures, Lao PDR will elaborate a clear programme of measures to be submitted to the donors. (...)

(...) Lao PDR's sustainable development strategy will at the same time address the longer-term issues related to its graduation. The success of this strategy is, therefore, vital. The Government of Lao PDR therefore intends to integrate its graduation strategy into its sustainable development strategy by emphasizing the measures which will need to be implemented in priority. (...)

Lao PDR's sustainable development including the achievement of the 2030 Agenda, largely depends on its capability to transform capital-intensive, resource-based system into a more diversified economy (…)

To warrant that the measures needed to ensure a smooth transition and its sustainable development, in 2017, Lao PDR established the National Steering Committee for SDGs implementation under the Presidential Decree, (…) There is also a mechanism allowing to engage the civil society to implement the 2030 Agenda, which covers many of the issue which have to also be addressed within the graduation process. (...) This Committee consists of the representatives from relevant agencies and would be responsible for the implementation of the short-term and long-term measures of the graduation strategy and their embedment in the SDGs 2030 Agenda. The working group would require urgent technical assistance for the elaboration of the graduation strategy as well as to strengthen the negotiation capacity of the International Department. UNESCAP is expected to continue its technical assistance to the Agenda 2030.

Lao PDR prohibits or restricts the import of certain goods on the grounds of: (...) conservation of natural resources; compliance with the provisions of any legislation of Lao PDR; and the fulfilment of obligations under the UN Charter. Lao PDR operates both automatic and non-automatic licensing for imports. Automatic licensing is in place for statistical and monitoring purposes only. Non-automatic import licensing procedures are required for reasons of national security; (...) or protection of the environment.