Laos, China to ink further tourism cooperation initiatives
The Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism of Laos and China’s National Tourism Administration will sign a memorandum of understanding on ‘Development of Quality Standards for Tourist Attractions’ in the near future to boost bilateral tourism cooperation between the two countries. These fairs offer many countries ...
Huaphan to receive new provincial hospital
Huaphan province plans to build a new provincial hospital with currently the eight-storey building being designed, a hospital official reported recently. The Vietnamese side recently signed a contract with provincial authorities to conduct survey and design, while provincial authorities provide information, Mr Muisy Sornamsarn told Vientiane ...
Meeting marks Laos' successes in diplomacy
Having diplomatic relations with 138 countries and 124 political parties around the world are seen as major achievements by Laos in the field of foreign affairs and diplomacy over the past 70 years. These achievements were highlighted at a meeting held in Vientiane on 12 October to ...
Province, district authorities have no right to approve logging
Officials from Vientiane and provincial agriculture and forestry departments across the country attended the one-day meeting where they received an explanation about Prime Ministerial Order No 15 issued on May 13 that details measures to address illegal logging and improve domestic timber business operations. Provincial ...
Wife of jailed Lao activist asks Poland’s justice ministry for help with extradition
The wife of a jailed Polish citizen of Lao heritage has asked Poland’s justice ministry to request the Lao government to transfer her husband from a detention center in the Southwestern Asian nation to one in his European home country. Barbara Paklak-Thammavong told RFA’s Laos Service ...
Jailed Lao Activist Silenced by Government, but Continues to Inspire
Laos says women are now more respected and protected on International Women’s Day Monday, but the words might ring hollow to Houayheuang Xayabouly, who languishes in jail more than a year after her arrest for a Facebook post complaining about the communist government’s failure to ...
RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Lanexang cement Lao factory officially starts production
Lanexang cement Lao factory in Khounkham district of Khammuan province has began production last week and aims to be one of the biggest cement suppliers in Laos. The Yunnan provincial Energy Investment Group Co., Ltd (YEIG) invested US$1.2 billon to build the factory. According to the company ...
Universal health cover still a challenge
While economic growth and poverty reduction has been impressive, health outcomes improved and Millennium Development Goals 4, 5, 6 and 7 are on tract; Universal Health Coverage is still a major challenge. The symposium was held on 13 June in Vientiane and also attended by President of ...
Greater availability of loans boosting business in Laos
“I bought my mobile phone for 8 million kips (about Bt34,500) by using First Choice because that facility enabled me to make the payment over 15 months,” a customer of the brand, Somkhith Chitdavongsor, said last week. It was the first time he had made a purchase ...
IOM, Italy join hands to fight human trafficking
The International Organisation for Migration and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare will cooperate in the war on human trafficking in Laos after signing a project agreement in Vientiane on 18 July between the IOM Head of Office Mr Damien Kilner and the ministry’s Director General ...
France repatriates 150 smuggled rare tortoises seized on route to Laos
Some 150 rare tortoises are to be returned to Madagascar by French customs, who seized them in December while they were being smuggled to Laos. The reptiles needed several months of intensive care after being transported hidden in cases of sea cucumbers. Keep reading ...
Laos-US relations look to growing ties: US diplomat
Relations between Laos and the United States have been transforming towards growing ties, a US fellow and former US ambassador to Laos has noted. Adjunct Senior Fellow of the East-West Centre based in Hawaii, Charles B. Salmon Jr., made the comment during a recent meeting with ...
Proposed Xayaboury airport still up in the air
The go ahead for construction of a new airport in Xayaboury province is still awaiting government approval with no decision in sight. The provincial Public Works and Transport Department sent plans for a new airport to the Ministry of Public Works and Transport earlier this year. A ...
New Sri Sathya Sai school to accept more enrolments
The first ever Sri Sathya Sai School in Laos, based on a human-value based educational model, has plans to accept more enrolments for the 2016-2017 academic year after opening its doors last September. To date, there are 74 children, including 37 females attending the class from ...
Lao farmers devastated by severe drought
A lack of rainfall and scorching heat is destroying the livelihoods of Lao farmers, who say their crops are dying amid an ongoing drought in the Southeast Asian region linked to the El Niño phenomenon. The drought since May has left those in Laos who rely on ...
Development partners to further support Laos: UNICEF
UNICEF will continue to expand its partnership with government counterparts, development partners and UN agencies, INGO/CSOs under the umbrella of the Vientiane Declaration on Aid effectiveness. The agency will work closely with all related partners to develop a new country programme of cooperation for 2017-2021 within ...
New support to protect Lao wetlands from climate change
The Global Environment Facility has pledged US$4.7 million to protect Lao wetlands from climate change. Laos has defined two wetland areas under the Ramsar Convention on ‘Wetlands of International Importance’ which covers all aspects of wetland conservation and wise use. These wetland areas are Xe Champone in ...
Laos benefits from regional cooperation
Laos is benefiting from regional projects supported by the Republic of Korea and India through Mekong-ROK and Mekong-Ganga cooperation. The Sixth Mekong-ROK Foreign Ministers’ Meeting hosted by Laos in Vientiane on Sunday welcomed the endorsement of seven projects under the Mekong-ROK Cooperation Fund, to which the ...
Chinese investment upheavals anger Laos' indigenous tribes
Rackety trucks rush across China’s border with its backwater neighbor, stirring up clouds of dust and drowning the tweets of tropical birds. Chinese projects to construct roads in one of Asia’s poorest countries date back to 1962 when Laos was subject to a proxy war between the global Cold ...
Robert Bociaga
Laos parliament approves development plans
The inaugural session of the National Assembly’s 8th Legislature ended on 22 April with the approval of the 8th five-year National Social Economic Development Plan for 2016-2020, the 10-year Strategy for 2016-2025, and the 15-year Vision for 2016-2030. The three-day session elected Mr Bounnhang Vorachit as President ...
