On the 2nd of March, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MOIC) together with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) organized an event in Paksé, Champassack to spread the word on how to use the online e-commerce platform, plaosme.com. Industry and Commerce Vice Minister Somchit Inthamith and ADB Laos Country Director Yasushi Negishi were present for the event as the website was showcased in front of various SME owners in the four southern provinces.
“The ADB and the MOIC, in our efforts to promote small and medium sized enterprises under the private sector and SME development project, launched the website plaosme.com in August 2017, which is an e-commerce platform for all SMEs to access the domestic and international markets – ASEAN markets, in particular as well as ASEAN partner countries,” says Negishi.
The website currently boasts 118 companies that have registered, bringing to the platform 413 products including handicrafts, rice, coffee, tea, furniture and jewelry. 72 companies of the total registered number are female-owned and operated.
The government of Thailand has promised support for Lao migrant workers living in the country, and will offer assistance to Lao workers who want to return home to Laos.
The Thai government has said it will upgrade the nationality status of Lao workers in Thailand.
The Thai Minister of Labor, Mr Adul Sangsingkeo, was in Vientiane on Monday to attend a bilateral meeting on labor issues. He said that Thailand would increase assistance offered to Lao workers.
“The two ministries will continue to solve labor-related issues to ensure safe labor migration with workers accessing permanent employment and entitled to sound and just welfare treatment in Thailand,” said Mr Khampheng Xaysompheng, Lao Minister for Labor and Social Welfare.
There are currently about 71,000 Lao workers in Thailand holding pink labor cards, which are the temporary identity cards issued by the Thai government.
Under the proposed plan, Thai authorities will continue to register foreign workers, issuing pink identity cards from March to June this year.
A Non-Thai Identification Card
“We would like to thank the Thai government for responding to the request of the Lao goverment regarding this matter,” said Mr Khampheng.
The Lao government has been assisting illegal migrant workers to return home to Laos and aquire a passport so they may return to Thailand and be legally employed.
It is estimated that there are 71,000 migrant workers from Laos working in Thailand, of which some 25,000 are unregistered and therefore not protected by law.
Since August last year, around 24,680 Lao nationals registered and upgraded their status.
The Laos-China Railway project rushes forward as residents get ready for the tremendous changes this new connectivity will bring to their homes. People residing within the parameters of the railway are certain that their livelihoods will be affected.
The construction of the US$6 billion railway, which will run from northern Laos to Vientiane, is on schedule for completion by 2021. This is the first overseas rail route linking Laos to China’s network. Currently, the only railroad in Laos is a 3.5 km extension of Thailand’s state railway network.
The Boten-Mohan border (between Laos and China) is the starting point of the 409-km Lao section of the Laos-China Railway ending in Vientiane. When completed, the journey from Boten border point in Luang Namtha to the capital city will be reduced from around three days by road to less than three hours by train.
Upon completion, the Railway is expected to cause an increase in the flow of not only goods but also people between the two countries. For example, more Lao parents will consider sending their children to study in China. In 2016, there were over 9,900 Lao students studying in China. In that year, Laos had the most number of students in the world studying in China.
Six Chinese companies are constructing the railway, ensuring the application and use of Chinese standards, equipment and technology. The Lao section of the railway will run south toward the capital through the provinces of Luang Namtha, Oudomxay, Luang Prabang and Vientiane.
A 23 year old Lao translator, Visay Sayavong said that he works with Construction Railway Company No. 5 of China in Luang Namtha. There are three villages located within the vicinity of the construction site: Boten, Tinsan and Nateuy. Since construction began, many people have been employed in the construction companies allowing people to generate more money.
“It’s helping to create work for local citizens in Nateuy village in Luang Namtha province and other villages nearby,” he said.
One village indicated that their village had found it hard to sell their products but since construction began, the market has expanded and the villagers are now able to sell food to the workers working on the project.
Prime Minister Thongloun (second from left) talks to Laos-China Railway management
Nowadays, buying vegetables and other foods is very convenient. Some food and vegetables imported from China are also sold in the market. Now, the market has been upgraded to include a multi-purpose room where people can sell goods providing more opportunities for development.
Before the railway construction project, the road to the village was bumpy and inconvenient. But now, the Chinese railway company has built good roads leading up to the village.
China will fund and own 70 percent of the railway, while Laos will take the remaining 30 percent. A 9.68-kilometre railway tunnel will connect both sides of the border with 7.17 km in China and 2.51 km in Laos. When active, the Vientiane terminus will link to the railway network of Thailand that stretches to Bangkok which is connected to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and eventually to Singapore. Passenger trains will run at 160 km per hour in mountainous areas and up to 200 km/h on the plains, while freight trains will run at 120 km/h.
Bridge under construction in Luang Prabang
When completed, it will be a crucial link for passenger and freight trains, connecting the rail networks of both countries.
Construction of the railway project is 20.3 percent complete as of December 2017 one year after construction began, according to Lao authorities.
Laos will also be able to receive benefits faster in the area of socio-economic development because the train from Laos will run to China and then from there can link to Europe. So far, more than 7,000 freight train trips have been made between China and Europe.
China’s top economic planner said on Friday that 86 countries and international organisations have signed 100 cooperation agreements with China under the Belt and Road Initiative.
Ango serves traditional Japanese food with a difference
In Japanese, the word Ango has more than one meaning. One is the three-month period of intense training for students of Zen Buddhism, otherwise known as Buddhist Lent. In traditional haiku poetry, however, the word refers to summer – a happy word that evokes renewal.
Ango was the perfect name to give a newly opened restaurant in Vientiane, after Japanese couple Hiroshi Yoshioka and Erika Fujiwara took it over from its previous owners last year.
Originally the offbeat corner café Yulala, selling homestyle Japanese food, its new incarnation is similar in atmosphere.
A cosy, wood-floored space littered with homely objects and quirky art, Ango serves the same style of food – rice bowls, salads and green tea – that the owners themselves love eating.
Originally from Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture, Hiroshi first arrived in Laos in 2009, as a volunteer art teacher for the Japanese aid agency JICA. Erika, a ceramic artist from the famous craft city of Kanazawa, arrived in 2013, mostly to visit Hiroshi, but also because she had recently received an arts scholarship from Japanese cosmetics house Pola, giving her the chance to travel and create a body of work.
But she ended up staying, and in 2014, the owners of Yulala decided to head back to Japan. They offered the business to Hiroshi and Erika, giving them just one month to make up their minds.
Although the two were happy doing their current work, and had never run a café before, they accepted the offer, and spent six months refurbishing the space and making it their own, reopening the space in mid-2016.
Although Ango’s menu is simple and streamlined – an Okinawa-style taco rice bowl, cold friend eggplant and homemade ginger ale are just some of the things on offer – and is open for lunch and dinner, the couple are now trying to work out how they simplify things further, to enable them to pursue their separate artistic careers. Erika recently exhibited her earthy ceramic bowls, fired in a homemade kiln, at Vientiane’s I-Cat Art Gallery, while Hiroshi is an illustrator. They even have plans to one day use the space as a gallery; its white walls, timber floors and natural light would be particularly conducive to displaying art.
But in the meantime, the café has become a popular spot for diners seeking Japanese food with a difference.
Hiroshi likes playing around with more Southeast Asian ingredients, like coriander and chili, while Erika just likes the kind of food they eat together at home.
“It’s food for the house, for family – it’s home-style,” Erika says.
The inflation rate in Laos remains low, despite a rising cost of living, according to the Lao National Statistics Bureau.
The bureau announced recently that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 109.91 points in January, demonstrating only a 0.27 percent difference with the previous month.
This difference moved the year-on-year change of the CPI up by 0.97 percent, according to the bureau’s report.
“The year-on-year change in the CPI has remained low with the annual change at 0.97 percent. The low inflation was made possible due to CPI of consumer goods categories, which are base of the inflation rate in the country and has seen a continued contraction,” said the report.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages remained at 102.3 points in January, marking a 0.33 percent increase compared to the previous month.
The CPI of clothes and shoes saw a month-on-month change at 0.75 percent in January, staying at 104.95 points. This figure saw a year-on-year difference of 2.93 percent. Meanwhile, the CPI of housing, water, and cooking gas was 103.18 points, with a month-on-month change of 0.15 percent, and year-on-year change of 2.07 percent.
The Lao National Statistics Bureau is a department under the Ministry of Planning and Investment.
Cambodian troops stationed on the border with Laos commenced live-fire drills yesterday, just six months after a flare-up caused severe border tensions between the two countries.
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen created Infantry Brigade 128 last August after a confrontation with the Lao military. The brigade is now using live mortars as part of special training alleged to improve skills and defend territorial integrity.
According to reports in the Phnom Penh Post, the Lao side was informed of the drills prior to commencement.
Troops from Laos were accused of crossing the border into Cambodian territory amid a dispute over road construction. This sparked the public announcement of an ultimatum, requesting Laos withdraw its troops within six days or suffer the consequences.
Many experts claim that the entire episode has been nothing more than political games, with the Cambodian Prime Minister attempting to fan the flames of nationalism amid the looming Cambodian general elections, due in July this year.
Thai border police have seized a shipment of smuggled snakes bound for Laos.
Police noticed a suspicious vehicle near the border area in Bueng Kan Province, which borders Paksan District, Bolikhamxay Province of Laos last week. Upon inspection, hundreds of protected snake species’ were found inside.
1,362 kilograms of live snakes were seized, including 209 cobras and 162 long tail rat snakes.
Suspects told the police that they had been hired for 10,000 baht to drive the cargo north into Laos.
Police estimate the value of the 1,684 snakes seized to be approximately 500,000 baht.
The suspects, who have yet to be named, were detained at the Pakkat District police station and charged with illegal possession and trafficking of protected wildlife.
It is unclear if Laos was to be the snakes’ final destination, or if the country were to be used as a transit location, with the snakes bound for bordering countries Vietnam or China.
On the 21st of February, a procurement agreement was signed for the US $92-million expansion of Chi Nai Mo Water Supply Plant in Vientiane Capital.
The project will be funded with a low-interest loan from the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency).
The signing ceremony took place at Crowne Plaza Vientiane between Director of the Vientiane Public Works and Transport Department Mr Dethsongkham Thammavong, Director of the Lao Water Supply Enterprise Mr Khampheuy Vongsakhamphoui and Director of Oriental Consultants Global Asia Ryohei Ishii, in the gracious presence of Vientiane Capital Vice Mayor Mr Keophilavan Aphailath, Deputy Minister of Public Works and Transport Mrs Vilaikham Phosalath, Deputy Minister of Finance Mrs Thipphakone Chanthavongsa, representatives of JICA and other officials.
Vientiane has set an ambitious plan to increase the number of households with access to water supply to 80% for suburban areas and 90% for the entire population in the country’s capital, according to the Manager of the Vientiane Water Supply Expansion Project Mrs Bouavone Luangkhod.
“We assigned the Department of Public Works and Transport and the Vientiane Water Supply Enterprise to conduct a feasibility study with JICA into the waterworks expansion project in 2014. And based on our estimates, the project will be able to provide safe water to 160,000 people and increase the daily production of the Chi Nai Mo water supply plant from 40,000 cubic meters (current capacity) to 380,000 cubic metres by 2025,” said Mrs Bouavone.
The financial loan provided by the Government of Japan will be divided into two amounts; the first one being spent on consultancy for the project and another one for the construction of infrastructure and facilities.
Under the agreement, the Vientiane Water Supply Enterprise is required to pay the debt within 30 years.
Originally from Kobe City in Hyogo Prefecture, Hiroshi first arrived in Laos in 2009, as a volunteer art teacher for the Japanese aid agency JICA. Erika, a ceramic artist from the famous craft city of Kanazawa, arrived in 2013, mostly to visit Hiroshi, but also because she had recently received an arts scholarship from Japanese cosmetics house Pola, giving her the chance to travel and create a body of work.
Hiroshi likes playing around with more Southeast Asian ingredients, like coriander and chili, while Erika just likes the kind of food they eat together at home.
