Members of the Illicit Drug Control Sector Working Group (IDSWG) visited the Lao-Thai Friendship Bridge in Vientiane last week to better understand the role of Lao Customs and Immigration officials in the fight against drug trafficking. The event was attended by Deputy Head of Office of ...

Laos has an estimated 63,000 unemployed, including those already in the country and migrant workers who have returned to Laos due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to a report by the KPL, the unemployment rate in Laos is expected to increase by 20 percent. Head of the Employment Promotion ...

The World Bank Office in Vientiane on May 24 presented the bank’s Partnership Framework for Laos 2017-2021 to stakeholders, together with the findings of the Systematic Country Diagnostic and the launch of the annual publication entitled Lao Economic Monitor. The new partnership framework between Laos and ...

Lao authorities in cooperation with the Lao Women’s Union have successfully assisted two young women who became victims of human trafficking. The young women, aged between 14 and 16 years, were to be trafficked to China following a deal brokered between their parents and a trafficking ...

Economists have expressed concern over non-performing loans that banks have given to the private sector.​ Bankers said NPLs are currently higher than the rate of 3 percent set by the Bank of the Lao PDR, which could have negative impacts on financial and economic stability.​ ...

Lao, Cambodia, and Vietnam imposed serious restrictions on freedom of expression and the press over the last year, with all three countries also holding political prisoners and interfering with the rights of citizens to peacefully protest, according to an annual State Department report released on ...

Farmers are encroaching on national parks and protected forests in Laos, burning and clearing large areas to make room for cassava crops. The demand for cassava has seen it become the most profitable agricultural product in Laos, as demonstrated by the country’s February trade figures: cassava ...

The government has given the green light to Tadsakoi Power Company Limited to build the Tadsakoi hydropower project in Sepon district, Savannakhet province. A concession agreement for the project was signed recently in Vientiane between Minister of Planning and Investment, Dr Souphan Keomixay, Deputy Minister of ...

Vietnam has a Thai man and 17 others after a blitz on drug crime uncovered major stashes of heroin, cannabis and precursor chemicals, state media have said. Six Vietnamese were arrested in Hanoi after being caught with some 120 kilogrammes of heroin hidden inside household gas ...

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in Hatxaykhao village yesterday as construction began for the LaoDC data center, the first licensed, privately owned data center in Laos. The LaoDC data center will be one of the largest data centers in Laos, More  ...

Neighboring countries have called on Laos to consider the cross-border environmental impacts of a hydropower plant it plans to build on the Mekong River. Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand expressed concern after the Mekong River Commission (MRC) completed a six-month consultation process for the Luang Prabang Dam project ...

Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam will continue deepening the understanding between their peoples, especially the new generation, about the history of the relationship between the three nations of Indochina to protect their valuable ties. This was agreed by leaders of Lao Front for National Construction (LFNC), ...

Laos and China agreed to further their friendly relations and comprehensive strategic cooperation partnership with the inking of two agreements on human resources development.The agreements signed in Vientiane yesterday, comprising Lao-Chinese language interpreter capacity building and construction of Naxaithong Secondary School, were witnessed by Chinese ...

ASEAN is working to enhance cooperation between ASEAN member states in the area of cultural heritage protection, following new guidance from the bloc’s leaders. Deputy Secretary General of ASEAN for the ASEAN Social-Cultural Community, Mr Vongthep Arthakaivalvatee, told the media about the progress made on the ...

The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development is providing about EUR 20 million and the Lao government is contributing the equivalent of EUR 4 million as non-cash benefits for the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) project from 2021 to 2026. An agreement ...

Laos celebrated the 51st anniversary of the founding of Asean and the 21st anniversary of the country’s accession to Asean with a flag hoisting ceremony on Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.More ...

VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) – Laos has steadily faced a higher inflation rate over the past five months after being pressed by several economic factors.The changes in consumer prices index, as a result of expensive commodities such as oil, gold and food weakening the value of ...

Laos’ total population was estimated by the United Nations Population Fund at 6.9 million in 2017, with an annual population growth of 1.3 percent.1The last formal census was carried out in 2015. All the data referenced here is from the official 2015 Census of Population ...

Laos has agreed in principle to provide data and information about water resources and management plans involving the Mekong River directly to Thai authorities to assess the water situation and take action to prevent floods in eight northeastern provinces. Somkiat Prajamwong, secretary-general of the Office of ...

Laos currently has 4.5 million hectares of agricultural land, with 2 million hectares dedicated to rice farming and the rest to crop and animal farming.The ministry is implementing land allocation and demarcation projects for protected areas in response to small, medium, and large investments in ...