In the first visit to Laos by a member of the Belgian royal family, Queen Mathilde met with Vice President Phankham Viphavanh at the Presidential Palace on Monday.
According to the Lao News Agency, Queen Mathilde, who is also the Honorary President of Unicef Belgium, and Her Royal Highness’s delegation, is visiting Laos from February 20-23, in line with the Unicef cooperation framework.
[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”16″ override_thumbnail_settings=”1″ thumbnail_width=”100″ thumbnail_height=”75″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”20″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”0″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show slideshow]” template=”/home4/laotiantimes/public_html/wp-content/plugins/nextgen-gallery/products/photocrati_nextgen/modules/ngglegacy/view/gallery.php” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails”]During the meeting, Her Royal Highness also met with Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms Khamphao Eunthavanh, and President of the Lao Women’s Union, Ms Inlavanh Keobounphanh.
Both sides examined numerous ways to further expand cooperation between Laos and Unicef, particularly the Lao government’s attempts to alleviate poverty and to graduate Laos from least developed country status.
The Queen expressed her sincere gratitude for the gracious reception the Lao government and people have offered to her and her delegation, saying She highly regards the partnership between Unicef and Laos.
From 2012 – 2016, Unicef has executed work programmes in Laos totaling to more than US$49 million. From 2017-2021, Unicef intends to complete programmes amounting to US$70.5 million, which will fund programmes in seven main areas of social protection, climate change and disaster response, education , health, hygienic water, nutrition, educational institutions, policy and justice improvement.
The Queen is scheduled to visit programmes jointly run by Unicef and the Lao government in southern Salavanh and Champasack provinces during the remainder of her stay.
Photos: New My Royals
