The Lao government is taking steps to reduce negative impact on domestic goods prices ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economic Community (AEC) integration in 2015.

The implementation of the AEC will challenge the currently controlled price of goods as foreign goods begin to enter the Lao market without any customs or tax fees, said Lao Ministry of Industry and Comerce's Domestic Trade Department Director General Leuam Nhongvongsithi, according to state-run daily Vientiane Times, Wednesday.

Once foreign products enter the Lao market under an AEC framework, the price of Lao products will fluctuate with inflation and local supply and demand, Nhongvongsithi said. A priority of the Domestic Trade Department will be to ensure that food prices remain stable as the quantity of imports is expected to exceed the quantity produced domestically.

According to government figures, in the last six months of the 2012-2013 financial year, Laos imported approximately 1.16 billion US dollars worth of goods while exports totaled some 880 million US dollars.

"It will be our job to find resolutions for price controls to ensure as little impact as possible... and to implement regulations to stop the price of local goods from fluctuating too much," Nhongvongsithi said.

Currently there is ample production of staples such as pork, rice and poultry to satisfy domestic demand. However foodstuffs that cannot be sourced domestically will have to be imported, causing prices to rise.

The Domestic Trade Department, Vientiane Industry and Commerce Department, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and other related government departments are currently coordinating efforts in preparation for the AEC integration.