ASEAN defence personnel call for closer cooperation
A vision for politics and security in the region, tackling non-military threats and challenges, and maintaining cooperation in national defence were tabled for discussion at the Track II 9th Network of Asean Defence and Security Institutions meeting, which opened in Vientiane on 24 March. Keep reading ...
Johanna Powell: Laos river death inquest to 'take three months'
An inquest into the death of a Cardiff woman on holiday in south-east Asia should be completed within three months, a pre-inquest review has heard. BBC Wales picture editor Johanna Powell, 37, died in Laos on 11 April. Keep reading ...
Arrested for praying, Laotian Christian dies in prison for lack of treatment
Tiang, a married father of six, died in jail waiting before his appeal could be heard. Although he suffered from diabetes, prison officials repeatedly denied him treatment. He and four others had been convicted for praying on behalf of a terminally ill woman, an act ...
Champassak tourism continues to flourish
Champassak provincial authorities anticipate the tourism sector will double in the next five years, with visitor numbers expected to comfortably reach the goal of more than 500,000 this year after 400,000 last year. According to an official from Champassak Information, Culture and Tourism Department, recent figures ...
Mining slump, improper planning blamed for budget tensions
The enormous drop in revenue generated from mining coupled with improper budget planning has been the main cause of the budget tensions Laos has faced over the past few years, Deputy Prime Minister SomdyDouangdy told parliament recently. MrSomdy, who is also Minister of Finance, said revenue ...
No more land concessions in Champassak
No more state land will be released under concession for planting rice, coffee, rubber, cassava or maize in Champassak province, as most areas suited to agriculture are already being utilised. Champassak agricultural authorities in Laos advised that prospective investors should go to the province of Saravan ...
Laos placed in top quarter of global peace rankings
Laos has been ranked 41st out of 162 countries in terms of peace, according to the recent Global Peace Index 2015 (GPI) report. The report ranked countries in five categories from ‘Very High’ to ‘Very Low’, and had Laos in the second best ‘High’ grouping alongside ...
Locals wary as Laos powers ahead with hydroelectric goals
With one palm on his shaven head, Phra Khamsee Manivong stares at a backhoe levelling dunes of compacted mud by his temple. All around the ornate red and gold edifice, crumbled remnants of a boundary wall tangle with fresh creepers. It has been 17 months since ...
Tan Hui Yee
UNICEF pledges to improve child welfare in Laos
The United Nations Children’s Fund has committed to strongly supporting the Lao government’s efforts to improve the quality of education and healthcare as well as combat malnutrition problems in the country. Ms Hongwei Gao, UNICEF Lao PDR Representative stressed the importance of providing opportunities and a supportive ...
Military helicopter carrying 19 passengers, four crew ‘missing’ in Laos
A military transport helicopter carrying 19 passengers and four crew members in northern Laos is missing more than 36 hours after it departed an airport in the capital Vientiane, an Air Force official has said. Air traffic control in Vientiane lost contact with the MI-17 helicopter ...
Another dam on the Mekong
Since the announcement in July last year that the Lao government was notifying the Mekong River Commission (MRC) of its intention to proceed with the construction of a dam due to be completed by 2027, not far from the old royal capital of Luang Prabang, ...
Milton Osborne
New law to strengthen civil servant management in Laos
All Lao civil servants, including leaders will have new uniform regulations imposed on them if a newly drafted law on public service is promulgated. This is the perspective of Laos’ new proposed civil service management law drafted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which is responsible for ...
Obama plans to visit Laos
United States President Barack Obama plans to visit Laos next year to attend a regional economic summit, making him the first American president to visit that country. Keep reading ...
Lao Government promoting CSO involvement in national development
The government wants to encourage more involvement of Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in Laos in a bid to boost government policy in the fields of national construction and development. The government sector and representatives of CSO in Laos began meeting at a seminar in Vientiane on ...
Laos takes steps to tackle six urgent issues
The government has called for the sectors responsible to shoulder more responsibility in finding solutions to six pressing issues that are affecting socio-economic development. The issues were tabled at the government’s monthly meeting held in Vientiane on July 23-24 when cabinet members discussed possible measures to ...
Somsack Pongkhao
UN rights envoy says Laos focus on big projects hurting poor
The U.N. rapporteur on poverty, Philip Alston, said Thursday that Laos’ impoverished economy can only thrive if its leaders do a better job of educating and caring for all of its people. The current strategy of favoring big-ticket projects with Chinese investors and granting big ...
Development partners advise on path to success
The government needs to invest more in education, skill development, health and other basic aspects of development to ensure that Laos graduates from Least Developed Country status. Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Ms Helen Clark, made the recommendation at a briefing held recently during ...
Promotion of Lao local wood industry to improve livelihoods
The Value Adding to Lao PDR Plantation Timber Products 2 (VALTIP2) project is promoting the improvement of livelihoods for farmers and processing workers in the Lao wood industry. VALTIP2 on 11 November officially opened a veneer processing and products research centre at the Faculty of Forestry, National ...
Concrete roads pave way to the future in Vientiane
More roads in Vientiane and the provinces are being built or upgraded using concrete rather than asphalt as the authorities recognise its durability against the ravages of wet weather and heavy trucks. An official from the Vientiane Public Works and Transport Department, who asked not to ...
Laos to highlight progress in MDGs in UN forums in New York
Despite its being a tiny landlocked nation, Laos has made some inroads in its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in providing primary healthcare to Laotian mothers and children in the country’s hinterlands. This will be the message that Laos President Choummaly Sayasone will bring to New ...
