Laos is still free from the coronavirus even though the deadly Covid-19 has now spread to some 79 countries, Deputy Minister of Health, Associate Prof. Dr Phouthone Muongpak, told foreign diplomats yesterday. The ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a meeting to ...

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and his Lao counterpart Somsavat Lengsavad sought measures to reach co-operation contents agreed for 2016-2020 during talks in Hanoi on 6 December. They reviewed achievements made from 2011-2015, agreeing that the two countries’ traditional friendship, special solidarity and comprehensive co-operation ...

Damage to property in Hongsa and Xaysathan districts of Xayaboury province has been estimated at over 2 billion kip after at least 300 families were affected by an earthquake last week. Director of the province’s Labour and Social Welfare Department, Mr Nouphone Xaypanyachith, said two earthquakes ...

The Thai government approved a draft memorandum of understanding (MoU) on 21 December to purchase electricity from the Nam Thuen 1 hydropower project in Laos. The draft MoU was endorsed by the National Energy Policy Committee chaired by Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha, which will see Thailand ...

A newly-amended Investment Promotion Law has recently been promulgated, offering a variety of incentives to attract investment in both promoted sectors and hardship areas. Businesses investing and operating in hardship communities (known as Area I),where infrastructure has not yet been developed, will enjoy favourable profit ...

Laos, Nepal and Myanmar are the countries which have the lowest number of contraceptive users in Asia, according to the latest United Nations’ figures. The figures from the UN’s Department of Economic and Social Affairs, compiled by ANN/DataLeads, show wide disparities in the use of ...

Illegal dumping and waste burning present a challenge to municipal solid waste management in Vientiane Capital, according to authorities. Household waste management in the nation’s capital stands at only 27 percent, while the remaining 73 percent of households in the capital do not use municipal waste ...

Fifteen mining operations have had their concessions revoked after investors failed to implement their projects as agreed after they were granted concessions by the government. Speaking at the ongoing ordinary session of the National Assembly last week, Minister of Energy and Mines Dr Khammany Inthirath ...

Local communities impacted by flooding are benefiting under a ‘cash for work’ project as part of the collaboration between the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and the United Nations Development Programme. The project began in 2018 to support the most vulnerable families, most of ...

How do you design a malaria elimination programme for hard-to-reach communities who already have difficulty accessing health care? This is the question confronting malaria workers across the Greater Mekong subregion. Malaria cases in Cambodia and Lao People’s Democratic Republic are mostly found among people living and ...

The manager of a highway project linking Hanoi with Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, has estimated the cost for the 707-kilometer route at US$4.52 billion.    In its latest plan submitted to the transport ministry, the project’s manager Unit 85 said the six-lane highway will go through ...

China aims to complete laying a 418-kilometre (260-mile) railway from a border town to Laos by 2020, the official China Economic Herald reported, as the economic giant seeks a new route into the emerging markets of Southeast Asia. The two countries agreed on 13 November to jointly ...

A government ban, fines and the confiscation of goods has not stopped Chinese opportunists seeking to make a quick buck in Laos stone, reports the Shanghai-based China Business News. The popularity of Laos stone has investors betting that it could step up next to the greats ...

The prices of food staples in Laos are still around 10-20 percent higher compared to neighbouring countries especially Thailand and Vietnam, the National Assembly was informed. The price of Grade A pork in Laos is 35,000 kip a kg, in Thailand 30,000 kip and 27,720 kip ...

Chinese visitors represent the third-largest segment of foreign visitors to Laos, following visitors from Thailand and Vietnam. In the future it is likely that China will surpass  Thailand and Vietnam as the top supply market for travel. Keep reading ...

The Natural Resources and Environment Sector Working Group (NRESWG) plans to accelerate implementation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment’s priority projects affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The group also aims to ensure the alignment of ongoing and future activities through the NRESWG platform, as ...

Cambodian police on 25 August showed off a seizure of nearly 1.5 tonnes of marijuana worth more than $7 million packed into coffee bags, part of an ongoing drug crackdown in the country. Keep reading ...

Sixty-two scholarships were awarded on 15 February to children of Vietnamese expats living in Laos who wish to study in Vietnam, taking the total number of such grants this year to a record 92, according to newswire VietnamPlus. The scholarships are jointly sponsored by the Vietnamese Embassy ...

Business leaders in Nakhon Phanom are scrambling for facts to verify the reported construction of Disney Laos, with fears that this could be a hoax which could spark land price speculation in the northeastern province. Charnyuth Uppapong, chairman of the provincial chamber of commerce, said on ...

The long-awaited railway that would connect the landlocked Laos with China would soon become a reality as an agreement was signed between authorities from the two countries for the construction, which is scheduled to start this month. The China-Laos railway will speed up not just the ...