Aid and development
Magical Laotian town preserved by UNESCO
It is officially described as the best-preserved city in Southeast Asia, a bygone seat of kings tucked into a remote river valley of Laos. Luang Prabang weaves a never-never land spell on many a visitor with its tapestry of French colonial villas and Buddhist temples draped ...
Australians pledge continued support for child development
Australians have pledged to continue their support for child development in Laos with a focus on strengthening the quality of primary education. This was the message given by Australian Ambassador to Laos John Williams and officials from Plan International Australia at a reception held on 18 ...
Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar in line for US$180m loan
The Climate-Friendly Agribusiness Value Chains Sector Project will provide a US$180 million loan to finance initiatives in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar to boost the capacity of commercial production in the three countries. A senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr Vinoth Vansy, told ...
Lao people fighting for change 'deserve better than silence'
Anne-Sophie Gindroz, a former Swiss humanitarian worker in Laos, observed forced displacement and evictions of rural populations to make way for dams and other controversial infrastructure and plantation projects in the impoverished Southeast Asian country. Gindroz, who was the country director for Helvetas Swiss Intercooperation, ...
Seven community-based tourism projects planned in Myanmar
Myanmar’s first community-based tourism (CBT) project, one of seven planned, is up and running in Magway region, much to the delight of local residents. At a recent launch event here, community leader San Htun said the members of four villages joining the scheme threw full support ...
Development partners to further support Laos: UNICEF
UNICEF will continue to expand its partnership with government counterparts, development partners and UN agencies, INGO/CSOs under the umbrella of the Vientiane Declaration on Aid effectiveness. The agency will work closely with all related partners to develop a new country programme of cooperation for 2017-2021 within ...
Save the Children supports Lao children's education
Save the Children has agreed to support two projects for the Ministry of Education and Sports, aiming to develop education for Lao children. The first project is entitled ‘School Quality Improvement Programme II in Borikhamxay, Xayaboury and Luang Prabang provinces.’ It aims to improve the quality of ...
Remaining Montagnards not refugees, ministry says
Less than a month after the government announced that more than 170 Montagnard asylum seekers would have their refugee applications processed, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on 10 February that the group had not met the criteria for refugee status and would be returned to Vietnam. However, ...
Vietiane declaration on Laos development cooperation signed
The Vientiane Declaration on Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (VD II or Vientiane Partnership Declaration), a result of joint efforts between the government and development partners to shift from effective aid to effective development cooperation, was signed late last week in the Laotian capital. Keep reading ...
New university to link up to SE Asian economic corridor
A new research university at Savannakhet – Laos’ second-largest city – in the western region is being built with loans and funding of up to US$40 million from the Asian Development Bank, or ADB, to provide skilled graduates for the region’s ‘economic corridor’ that runs ...