Coca-Cola bottler ThaiNamthip opens first Coca-Cola plant in Laos with US$30 million investment
Lao Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Coca-Cola bottler in ThailandThaiNamthip Limited and Lao firmPT Sole Co., Ltd., recently inaugurated the first Coca-Cola bottling plant in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic at a ceremony presided over by Mr. Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO ...
Huaphan roadwork slowly uncoiling bends
The winding road between Xieng Khuang and Huaphan provinces in the northern part of the country is steadily being straightened and widened, an official confirmed. An official from the Huaphan provincial Public Works and Transport Department Mr Ounchay Sisaengchan, told Vientiane times on 1 December that each ...
World Bank approves loan to poverty reduction fund
On 13 July, the Ministry of Finance signed a US$30 million agreement with the World Bank aimed at continuing to finance Laos’ Poverty Reduction Fund, improving livelihoods and upgrading infrastructure for residents of 150 rural villages in over 40 districts of 10 target provinces. The funding will ...
Lao Villagers Refuse to Yield Land for SEZ, Now Contend With Access Road
At least 140 families from eight villages in the Khong district of southwestern Laos’ Champasak province are refusing to sell their land or relocate to make way for a special economic zone planned for their area. Despite this, developers have begun the hasty construction of an ...
Laos yet to formulate drought response plan
An official from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Mrs Sonephet Phosarath said on 28 April that the relevant ministries have an emergency response plan to fight against the worsening drought. “Someday, the Lao government will make a plan to respond to worsening droughts and floods,” ...
SOS Children's Villages Laos achieve great success
SOS Children’s Villages Laos have attained remarkable outcomes throughout the past years, thanks to the support and assistance provided by SOS International, SOS Asia, friendly countries and donor organisations. National Director of SOS Children’s Villages Laos Mr Soumata Dengchampa made the observation in his introductory remarks ...
China provides 21billion kip to build new block at 103 Hospital
The Chinese government has provided a grant of more than 21 billion kip to build a new nine-storey building at the 103 Hospital in Vientiane, which is operated by the Lao Ministry of National Defence. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project took place on 29 May, ...
Vehicles cannot start as fuel becomes ice
Many cars in the northern parts of Laos appear not to have started in the cold weather and some people have speculated that maybe the stranded motorists were using low grade fuels. Last week saw many vehicles in the northern provinces of Phongsaly, Huaphan and Xieng ...
Lao officials investigate massive increase in illegal logging
A leaked report by an international environmental group revealing huge increases in illegal logging in Laos with an implication of government collusion has prompted officials in the small Southeast Asian nation to take action to examine discrepancies in timber export and import figures with China ...
In the Face of Criticism, Laos Pushes Ahead With Four Mekong Dams
As a struggling least developed country, Laos stands alone when it comes to ignoring common sense and pushing ahead with infrastructure development that it can ill-afford and is unlikely to deliver its much hoped-for rags to riches outcome. Energy and Mines Minister Sinavav Souphanouvong made that ...
Luke Hunt
More houses evacuated after landslide in Borikhamxay
Houses along the Mekong River in Borikhamxay province have been evacuated after five of them were undermined by a landslide at about 2am on 11 October. People in six or seven houses in the Phonson area of Phabath village in Thaphabath district quickly gathered their pets ...
Bounnhang Vorachit new President of the Lao PDR
Members of the National Assembly’s 8th Legislature elected Mr Bounnhang Vorachit as the new President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic at the Assembly’s inaugural session on 20 April. Keep reading ...
Laos prepares for timber trade agreement with EU
The Technical Working Group of the Lao Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT) process has elaborated a first draft Timber Legality Definition in preparation for the first face-to-face FLEGT/Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) negotiations between Laos and the European Union. The two-day workshop brought together 50 ...
Lao authorities charge woman with ‘slander’ for alleged extortion photos
Authorities in Laos have formally charged a young woman who has been detained since May after a photo she took was posted on Facebook, allegedly showing police officers extorting money from her brother during a stop for a traffic violation, according to an official source. Phout ...
Floods damage Vientiane rice crop
Farmers in two districts of Vientiane are unable to replant their rice after seedlings in thousands of low-lying plots recently disappeared under floodwater. Parts of Sangthong and Naxaithong districts were inundated following torrential rain earlier this month and farmers are dismayed because they say it is ...
Indian vice president Hamid Ansari visits Laos to strengthen ties and trade
Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari arrived in Laos on 17 September on a two-day visit. He will hold extensive talks with the Laotian leadership to deepen bilateral ties especially trade links as part of India’s Act East policy. Mr Ansari was received by Vongsavath Boupha, Minister to ...
US supports UXO clearance in Xieng Khuang
The United States’ Department of State Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement has provided more than US$2.17 million for a project supporting rural development through unexploded ordnance clearance in Xieng Khuang province. The total funding of US$2,178,865 will be used for survey and clearance in the ...
Open defecation still of great concern in Laos
Sixty two percent of people in Phongsaly province continue to practice open defecation which is higher than the national-level average rate of 40 percent. “Even where you are improving dietary intake and you have more diversified crops, where there is still open defecation, it has ...
Lao researchers seeking to introduce faster growing rice varieties
The Naphok Agricultural Research Centre is seeking to produce early maturing varieties of rice seed for Lao farmers to plant in the coming years, as part of efforts to reduce the disaster related impacts of climate change. Researchers at the centre are currently conducting ongoing research into ...
Rubber oversupply causes price slump in Laos
As rubber plantations mature and the trees are ready to be tapped, Lao growers stand to face a substantial loss amid a slump in the rubber price on the world market. A respected Lao researcher says poor assessment of the market prior to planting the trees ...
