Day: May 15, 2023

On 12 May, two Ambassadors and other Officials from the European Union (EU), Germany, France, Hungary and Italy visited Champahom Trade Import Export Company in Pak Ngum Village, Vientiane.

This company recently exported rice to the EU (Belgium and France), so Team Europe partners wanted to learn more about the opportunities and challenges of rice trading with the European market.

The Team Europe Delegation was headed by EU Ambassador Ina Marciulionyte, German Ambassador Annette Knobloch, Hungarian Chargé d’Affaires Laszlo Takacs, Cooperation Attaché, French Embassy, Marie-Christine Charlieu, Agriculture Environment Attaché, Italian Embassy to Thailand and Laos Roberto Molteni.

Representative of the Department of Agriculture in the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and other officials also joined the trip.

Ms. Bounheung Phommyxay, CEO of Champahom Trading Import-Export Sole Co. Ltd, was honoured to receive such a high-level delegation. She explained that her company received a loan from the World Bank, and benefited from the Systematic Mechanism for Safer Trade (SYMST) project, financed by the EU and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC).

Thanks to SYMST, the company was able to register in the system for exporting to the EU market (TRACE system), it attended the Thai Food Expo (ThaiFEX) in 2022, where they met with European buyers, and it also benefited from a training in January 2023 on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) to address food safety.

As a result, Champahom Company has become one of the first companies in Laos to succeed in exporting rice to the European Union. In 2021, the Company exported 50 tonnes of rice to the European Union market, with Belgium as the first purchase destination. In 2022, the company signed the agreement with Wech Gros Import-Export in France, to sell 1,000 tonnes of glutinous rice each year for an unspecified number of years with the first shipment of rice, amounting to 25 tonnes, sent to France in January 2023.

The Team Europe Partners took the opportunity to confirm their objective to strengthen trade, economic, and investment partnership with Laos, especially focusing on quality investment, which contributes to inclusive growth and jobs. They expressed hope that Champahom Trading Import-Export Sole Co. Ltd would be successful in exporting more rice to Europe, and congratulated Ms Bounheung Phommyxayfor her leadership, as a woman entrepreneur, in showing the way for other companies to export to the EU.

Source: Lao News Agency

– The provincial government here broke ground Monday for its PHP11.65-million two-story school-based multi-purpose teen center that will provide a venue for psycho-social and health development programs benefiting youths and adolescents in the province. The construction of the teen center at the Iloilo National High School (INHS) in this city’s La Paz district is under the “Bulig Eskwela sang Probinsya (BES PROBINS)’ program, particularly on the support to infrastructure and facilities in public schools and the Department of Education (DepEd). “We are not only concerned with the education in the four corners of the classroom. We are very concerned about your social life and psycho-social well-being. And we want our programs that deal with that to find a home in our teen center,” Iloilo Governor Arthur Defensor Jr. said in his message during the program. It will serve as a home for the Adolescent Health and Youth Development Program (AHYDP) and the Program for the Resilience of Iloilo in Mind and Emotion (PRIME). The center will also be a venue for the career guidance and counseling program localizing Republic Act (RA) 11206, of which Defensor was the main author when he was still a congressman, establishing a career guidance and counseling program in all secondary schools in the country and the voter’s education program. RA 11206, signed by former President Rodrigo Duterte on Feb. 14, 2019, is otherwise known as the Secondary School Career Guidance and Counseling Act. Defensor said the architectural design of the project is similar to the façade of the Casa Real which was declared an Important Cultural Property by the National Museum of the Philippines last month. “That looks like the facade of our Casa Real because we incorporate architectural design. We have been suggesting to the national government that any opportunity that we can incorporate architectural design to our civil works to make it beautiful, we will do it,’ he said, adding that beauty is appreciated, loved, and preserved. The provincial government targets to build PHP35 million worth of teen center buildings in around 10 national high schools in Iloilo this year. It has prepared a typhoon-resilient design for other teen centers that can withstand the strength of Typhoon Yolanda in 2013, the strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines, costing around PHP2.9 million each. All teen centers are funded under the government’s Provincial School Board Special Education Fund. Defensor said there are 97 other teen centers in the province but the provincial government only provided equipment for those facilities, unlike this time when it is the one constructing the buildings. The groundbreaking was also attended by DepEd Iloilo Schools Division Superintendent Ma. Luz de los Reyes, INHS principal Delorah Cecilia Fantillo, provincial administrator Raul Banias, and Provincial Population chief Ruel Von Superio.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has officially conferred the Performance Governance System (PGS) Institutionalized Status to the Police Regional Office-9 (PRO-9) during a flag ceremony at Camp Crame in Quezon City on Monday, the PRO-9 said. The PRO-9 (Zamboanga Peninsula) was awarded the Gold Eagle Award after garnering a rating of 97.5 percent in the institutionalization evaluation process. In a statement, PRO-9 said the PGS is a significant tool aimed at raising the standard of governance and eventually guides an organization in promoting the efficient delivery of services. The gains achieved by PRO-9 in implementing the PGS and the PNP P.A.T.R.O.L, Plan 2030 in the region resulted in eight breakthrough results that have significant impacts on the community, the statement added. The breakthroughs included increases in serviceable logistical capabilities; trained personnel, crime clearance efficiency, crime solution efficiency, and satisfaction trust index. Likewise, PRO-9 noted that the programs led to a reduction in street crimes, average monthly index crime rate, and major incidents perpetrated by threat groups. Lt. Gen. Rhodel Sermonia, PNP deputy director for administration, and retired Brig. Gen. Noel Baraceros, chairperson of the National Advisory Group for Police Transformation and Development, led the handing of the award to PRO-9. Brig. Gen. Neil Alinsañgan, PRO-9 director, and Jaydrick Johnson Yap, chairperson of the Regional Advisory Group for Police Transformation and Development-9, received the award.

Source: Philippines News Agency

Five farmers’ associations in different towns of Surigao del Norte are set to receive PHP583,350 each, or a total of PHP2.9 million as project grants for layer or egg production. The project will be released by the Department of Agriculture in the Caraga Region (DA-13) through the Special Area for Agricultural Development (DA-SAAD) program. In a statement Monday, the DA-SAAD said around 80 members of the organizations have undergone a series of egg layer production and management training concluded on May 9 to 12. ‘The participants are currently undergoing farm visits in different areas in the province to see the management and operations of egg layer production. The training forms part of the preparatory activities designed for the groups to manage their projects well,’ the statement said. The series of activities will enable the leaders and members of the associations to learn the considerations and strategies in layer production, particularly in housing setup, feeding, lighting, and treating common diseases. ‘The status, opportunities, and challenges of the industry in the region and the country and production technologies for small-scale production also forms part of the inputs during the training,’ DA-SAAD said. Support package The participants were also trained in record keeping with monitoring forms on the production of stocks and vaccination and medication. After the preparations, the support package for each of the groups will follow within the quarter of this year, to include inputs such as 192 ready-to-lay pullets, feeds, egg trays and drugs and biologics. The DA-SAAD said it hopes that the farmers’ associations will succeed in their ventures and contribute to the overall egg production in Surigao del Norte which suffered a major decline last year. Based on the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), Surigao del Norte’s growth rate in egg production in 2022 dropped to negative 85.3 percent with only 30 metric tons of production. The PSA data added that the production last year is lower compared to the 202 metric ton production in 2021. ‘We see the data as a challenge for the five farmers’ associations as we hope they could contribute to further boost the egg production in Surigao del Norte,’ the DA-SAAD said

Source: Philippines News Agency

The Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) foresees an increase in the number of bushfires in the coming months due to the dry spell. Supt. Christopher Morales, BFP-Zamboanga City fire marshal, said Monday they have so far recorded 48 bushfires since January. Of the total, he said 41 were recorded in March and April and seven from May 1 to 11. ‘Due to the warm weather, we are expecting the number of bushfires to increase since the grasses are dry,’ Morales said. Rodel Inclan, Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration-Zamboanga officer-in-charge, said they recorded a heat index of 45 degrees Celsius for this city and Dipolog City – so far the highest in the region. Inclan advised residents to stay indoors and limit outdoor activities, bring umbrellas or use hats, and drink plenty of water to keep hydrated. He said there is an 80-percent possibility that El Niño will be experienced starting June or August this year. Meanwhile, Morales urged the public, particularly smokers, to refrain from throwing cigarette butts on grasses as these easily catch fire because the grass and leaves are dry. He said they have coordinated with other government agencies, the city water district, and private companies with water tankers and fire trucks to support them in case of conflagration.

Source: Philippines News Agency