Day: July 1, 2021

The Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Sector Working Group met on Friday, 25th June 2021, in Vientiane with its primary focus placed on the new ten-year UXO national strategic plan – Safe Path Forward III (SPF III), which is currently in development.

This is the first meeting of the year, chaired by Mr. Padeumphone Sonthany, Vice Minister of Labour and Social Welfare and Standing Vice Chairman of the National Regulatory Authority for the UXO/Mine Action Sector in Lao PDR (NRA).

The meeting was co-chaired by Ms. Catherine Phuong, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Deputy Resident Representative, together with Mr. Brian Jungwiwattanaporn, Acting Chief of the Political-Economic Section at the Embassy of the United States of America.

Also attending are approximately 100 people from international embassy representatives, line Ministry officials, UXO operators and other UXO stakeholders.

The plan comes at a crucial turning point for the UXO programme, as it shifts to greater national ownership, as well as alignment with the country’s national social and economic development goals. In line with this, a national UXO training centre is being operated to build longer-term clearance capacity within the Humanitarian teams of the Lao People’s Army and other operators, and UXO has been integrated in the 9th Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2021-25).

“The new ten-year strategy for the UXO Sector (Safe Path Forward III) is a crucial step towards ensuring the long-term sustainability of UXO work in the Lao PDR,” said Ms. Phuong. “The new strategy will also help the country implement the Sustainable Development Goals, especially SDG 18 on mine action, and increase the contribution of the UXO sector to the overall socio-economic development of the country.”

Likewise, Mr. Padeumphone remarked that “Although UXO works have been effected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the UXO sector has taken out this opportunity to working remotely to ensure continuity of works by focusing on assessment and formulating the UXO National Strategic Plan “Safe Path Forward III” for the period 2021-2030 and drafting the Decree on UXO management in the Lao PDR to be in line with the obligation of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM).

The meeting also reflected on the achievements of the UXO sector over the past ten-year period, particularly the alignment with strategic objectives of the national UXO strategy such as the Safe Path Forward II (2011-2020) as a part of development process of SPF III.

Of particular importance for the UXO sector is the greater responsibility undertaken by the humanitarian teams of the Lao People’s Army, and the long-term development of the National Training Centre, both of which will ensure the sustainability of the UXO programme in the longer term.

These steps will ensure that the UXO sector will continue to contribute to the country’s economic progress and achievement of the SDG 18 by 2030, even as it enters its next decade.

Source: Lao News Agency

With 2021 bringing in the 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP), the Government has committed to improve public administration with a particular focus on strengthening public service through ambitious targets in the new NESDP.

A workshop on the 2nd Public Service User Feedback Survey results was held virtually on Jun 30 to provide an opportunity to share the results of the Public Service Survey (SUFS) among the four target districts namely Samphan district of Phongsaly Province, La of Oudomxay, Samuoy of Saravan and Dakcheung of Xekong.

Moreover, it provided a platform for members of the Provincial People’s Councils (PPC) to share their experiences in applying the results of these public surveys to meet the demands of members in their constituencies.

As chair, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nisith Keopanya remarked, “The SUFS will be a mechanism by which people can participate in expressing their views on public administration and development in their districts. It is a strong will of the Party and the government, which is the state of the people for the people and the interests of the people. It also reflects as one of the indicators of the Lao PDR in implementing the SDGs, especially the 16th Goal- to promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies”.

Representing the key development partners under the Governance for Inclusive Development Programme, or GIDP, was Ms. Aurélie Righetti, Head of Governance and Citizen Participation, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC, Mr. Seán O’Connell, Head of Governance Unit, UNDP and Mr. Thilaphong Oudomsine, Programme Specialist, UNCDF.

Development partners and local authorities participated in the virtual workshop given the current COVID-19 restrictions.

Ms. Righetti expressed that the “SUFS was introduced more recently as a multipurpose tool. On the one hand, SUFS aims at promoting and facilitating interactions between service users (citizens) and service providers, especially at local level. The feedback provides valuable information to the government of Laos to improve the delivery of services so that these respond to the needs and demands of all citizens, including vulnerable groups and people living in remote areas.”

Crucial to the role of PPC members is collecting the experiences and feedback of citizens on their engagement with local government. The PPC members in the four districts were actively involved in the implementation of the SUFS 2 and have shown their interest to use the SUFS results to monitor the service delivery at the district level.

Mr. O’Connell said, “PPC members must use this information directly from communities to highlight areas for improvement by provincial governments, so that the Lao PDR can quickly adapt policies and practice, to reach its ambitious development targets in the years ahead.”

The draft results of the survey, collecting feedback on citizen’s experiences on using public services, were shared with PPC members from across the Lao PDR so that they could in turn use this information to advance their oversight mandate in monitoring public service delivery at the Provincial Level.

SDC further encouraged the continuation of SUFS practice on a broader scale and ensures the integration of citizens’ feedback into local planning and administration of public services. Furthermore, to strengthen accountability mechanisms and facilitate PPC’s oversight work – to ensure each Provincial Government delivers on the national development agenda, including the 9th NSEDP and the SDGs.

Source: Lao News Agency

This year 1st July marks the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Over the past 100 years, the Communist Party of China has gone a long way toward the prosperity China.

The Communist Party of China has grown from initially 50 members and now becomes the largest political party in the world with more than 91 million members.

Under the leadership of the CPC, China has made remarkable progress in all fields. In this regard, the eradication of poverty of China, which is one of the strategic focuses of the work of building a comprehensive and prosperous society of China, has been achieved.

In February this year, China declared a “complete victory” in having all of its nearly 100 million rural residents living below the poverty line shaking off poverty. Such declaration was made after eight years of arduous efforts.

“China has needed a relatively short period of time to eradicated poverty for 100 million people. No other country and no other political party in the world has done that,” said Ms MO Xiao Ling, Director of CRI Vientiane. “This is an achievement of the Thought on Socialism with Chinese characteristics in comrade Xi Jinping’s era. China’s achievement in poverty eradication represents the people-centre development thought of the Communist Party of China.”

China is the first developing country in the world to have achieved poverty reduction – the Millennium Development Goal the United Nations had set out to be achieved by 2015.

At a grand ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC in Beijing on Thursday, Secretary General of the Communist Party of China and State President Xi Jinping announced: “China has realized the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects.”

“This means that we have brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China, and we are now marching in confident stride towards the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects,” Xi said.

Another big achievement that the world praises China is a victory in its fight against Covid-19, under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

So far, China has continued to assist many countries including the Lao PDR to respond to the Covid-19 through sending to the country vaccines and other medical equipment, medical experts to help it fight the pandemic.

Source: Lao News Agency

The National Taskforce Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control has recorded 23 new cases of Covid-19 over the past twenty four hours.

The newly reported infections included 20 imported cases – seven each in Savannakhet and Champassak, four in Khammuan and two in Vientiane – and three local transmissions in Vientiane province.

The nationwide number of Covid-19 infections, accumulated since March 2020, has reached 2,144 including 1,981 recoveries and three deaths.

As of Jun 29, over 1.47 million people had been vaccinated against Covid-19 with over 920,000 people given first doses and 556,000 given second injections.

Source: Lao News Agency