Likewise in Lao PDR, the government has emphasised the need to focus more on inclusive and sustainable growth in implementing the Eighth National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) 2016-2020 (RTM, 2015a). Development partners have also encouraged the integration of CSR in business models in the Vientiane Declaration on Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (20lb-25) as a result of dialogue with the government, calling for stronger partnerships between the private sector and the government in the development process (RTM, 2015b). They highlighted the importance of socially and environmentally responsible FDI, underlining that the social, environmental and economic price of ‘growing first and cleaning up later’ is too costly (RTM, 2015c).