Increased access to public services in Laos is distorting broader inequality
Since the early 1990s, five rounds of the Lao Expenditure and Consumption Surveys have shown that measured inequality has increased at the national level — within both rural and urban areas, within almost all provinces of Laos and within each of the four major ethnic ...
Lao Deputy Prime Minister promotes rice production in Khammuan
Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Somsavat Lengsavad, and other senior officials last week visited Nongbok district, Khammuan province for the promotion of agricultural production to ensure food security and a commercial basis. The delegation was warmly welcomed by the provincial authorities, especially the agriculture development promotion company ...
Overpass mulled as solution to Vientiane's traffic snarls
Officials are wrestling with the problem of identifying a long-term solution to Vientiane’s chronic traffic jams and some are suggesting that an overpass might ease the situation. While no such scheme currently exists, it is not beyond the bounds of possibility to imagine that overpasses will ...
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 ...
Laos polio prevention campaign gets booster shot with IPV
The Laos Ministry of Health has launched the Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) programme to further boost immunity against polio for children under 12 months of age. A ceremony to launch the national introduction of the IPV took place at the National Culture Hall on 15 October, ...
EPF extends support to environmental protection
The Environmental Protection Fund has decided to forecast a budget of over 2.5 billion kip to support its environmental protection activities in four target provinces of LuangNamtha, Phongsaly, Oudomxay and Bokeo, all of which have ample natural resources and valuable preserved wildlife habitats in the north ...
India, Laos signed two MoUs to strengthen bilateral ties
India and Laos on 18 September 2015 signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) to strengthen bilateral ties between the two nations. The MoUs were signed by Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari and President of Lao Choummaly Sayasone in the Presidential Palace Ho Kham, Vientiane. Keep reading ...
Christians arrested on charges of proselytizing
Two Christians were arrested by the police in the province of Khammouan, in the east of Laos, on charges of alleged proselytizing. The police broke into the house of a Christian in the village of Nong-hang, and arrested Bountheung Phetsomphone, 43, a Christian leader from another ...
Polio death draws 500,000 vaccine dose response in Laos
Half a million doses of the oral polio vaccine (OPV) will be distributed to at risk groups in Laos as health authorities respond to the dangers posed by the virus. The virus is responsible for the death of an eight-year-old boy in the province of Borikhamxay ...
Lao officials discuss preparations for ASEAN meetings
Preparations for the 20th Senior Official Committee for ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (SOCA) and the 15th ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community Council (ASCC) were on track, according to the concerned authority. Lao Senior Officials for SOCA and ASCC led by Mass Media Department Director General of the Ministry of Information, Culture ...
Flooding in Laos’ Southern Provinces Displaces 100,000, Kills at Least 28
More than 580,000 people have been impacted and at least 28 have died in floods caused by heavy rains over the past two weeks in Laos’ southern provinces, according to estimates revised during a cabinet meeting this week. The death toll figure was reported by ...
Major Cineplex targets 30 cinemas in Laos within three years
Major Cineplex Group is expanding its footprint in Laos, aiming to have 30 movie screens there within three years. Entering the country of 7 million people through its partner Platinum Cineplex, Thailand’s largest movie-theatre operator formed a 60:40 joint venture to open its first five movie ...
Proposed Xayaboury airport still up in the air
The go ahead for construction of a new airport in Laos’ 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 ...
More investing in Laos' specific economic zones
Many more companies are planning to invest in special and specific economic zones (SEZs) in Laos after witnessing the potential to benefit from the coming regional integration, according to a recent report. Keep reading ...
Laos, Hungary continue education cooperation
Laos and Hungary will pursue an educational cooperation programme for the next three years after reaching an agreement recently. The related agreement on the educational cooperation programme was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs MrSaleumxay Kommasith and Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade MrPéter ...
Families displaced by dam get new houses
Some 14 families of 85 people who recently moved to make way for the construction of the Don Sahong hydropower project in Champassak province have received new houses. The houses were handed over on 15 February in Don Sahong village, Khong district, in the presence of provincial ...
Laos, Thailand intensify economic ties, amend MoU on labour cooperation
Laos and Thailand have highlighted areas in which they will intensify economic cooperation and signed an amended Memorandum of Understanding on labour cooperation, Thai media reported on 6 July. The agreement was reached on 6 July by the two governments as Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith led a ...
Laos Plans New Coal-Fired Power Plant in Sekong Province
Laos has plans to build a new coal-fired power plant in Sekong province in the southeastern part of the country, raising concerns among local residents and environmental groups who fear damage to area farmland and forests, sources in the one-party communist state say. Permission to carry ...
RFA’s Lao Service. Translated by Max Avary. Written in English by Richard Finney.
Lutheran World Federation supports rural development in northern Laos
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has agreed to fund an extension of the Right Based Empowerment Project (RBEP) in Luang Namtha province, with funding of US$3 million (about 24 billion kip). The project will be implemented in Viengphoukha and Nalae districts of Luang Namtha province, running from ...
Environmentalist Warns of Long-Term Impacts of Reckless Hydropower Development
A prominent environmentalist has warned that hydropower-reliant countries will face significant negative impacts in the long-term and could see a repeat of the tragic bursting of the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy dam in Laos last July that killed dozens. Ian Baird, a professor at the University ...
Men Kimseng
