Aid and development
Bilateral development assistance
Cambodia to protect European patents
Cambodia is set to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise and protect European patents after the Minister of Industry and Handicrafts signed an agreement with the European Patent Office on January 24. The agreement, expected to come into effect in July, places ...
EU, French Red Cross provide 1.67b kip to reduce disaster risks
The European Union and French Red Cross donated some 191,900 euro or more than 1.67 billion kip to the Lao Red Cross on January 18 to scale up Community Based Disaster Risk Management and school safety in five villages of Yommalath district, Khammuan province. The Memorandum ...
Japan signs agreement to give ODA five projects in Myanmar
Japan signed an agreement in Nay Pyi Taw on January 18 to provide Official Development Assistance to Myanmar for five projects worth US$824 million, according to the Japanese Embassy in Myanmar. The ODA is set to be used for the renovation and maintenance of Yangon-Mandalay ...
Mine clearance death probed
Authorities have launched an investigation into how one deminer was killed and another was seriously injured during an operation in Pailin province. Provincial police chief Brigadier General Chea Chandin said the explosion happened in a forested area at about 7am on Friday. Halo Trust deminer Loeung Reaksmey, ...
US builds blood centre for southern provinces
The US Embassy to Laos has built a blood centre in Champassak province as one of several major infrastructure assistance projects completed last year, at a total cost of over US$850,000. The new blood centre will provide emergency blood services to people in the southern ...
PM okays new bypass, road in Mekong Delta
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has approved construction of a bypass and road that will connect with National Highway No. 91. The 15.3-km long bypass, which will go around Long Xuyên City, will extend from National Highway No. 80 and the Lộ Tẻ intersection to ...
Construction of Laos-China railway kicks off
Construction of the Laos-China railway to link Vientiane with the Chinese border will finally get underway following an official ceremony held in Luang Prabang province on December 25. In his remarks at the ceremony, Minister of Public Works and Transport Dr Bounchanh Sinthavong said actual ...
New cranes to raise Sihanoukville port’s capacity
State-owned Sihanoukville Autonomous Port received its first shipment of four new rubber-tyred gantry cranes from Japan this week under a $22 million investment plan that aims to expand the seaport’s container throughput capacity by 80 percent, a port official said on December 20. “We received ...
Laos prepares for face-to-face EU FLEGT, VPA negotiations
The Forest Law Enforcement Governance and Trade technical working group on December 15 met in Vientiane to discuss finalised key parts of the draft timber definitions to be submitted to the European Union by the end of this month. The submission is crucial preparation for ...
PM to launch railway construction in Luang Prabang
Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith will officially launch the start of construction for the Laos-China railway project at a ceremony on December 25. The ceremony to kick off railway construction will take place in Luang Prabang district’s Phonxay village where a railway bridge spanning the Mekong River ...