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140 Fires Inflict Property Damage Nationwide in 2016

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A total of 140 fires were reported around the country this year, killing one person, injuring two others and causing over 115 billion kip in damages, according to the Fire Prevention and Protection Police Department.

The department, which is part of the Ministry of Public Security, noted that 188 houses burned down, along with a market, an apartment, 30 shops, three school buildings, four warehouses, two petrol stations, one furniture shop and five monks’ living quarters.

Seven cars and six motorbikes were among the many items damaged or destroyed.

Sixty-three of the fires were caused by electrical short circuits, another five by arson, 48 through carelessness or forgetfulness, and four due to technical error. Another 20 fires are still under investigation.

The biggest fire occurred at the Dao Heuang market in Pakxe district, Champassak province. The blaze gutted the market and caused damages estimated at 58 billion kip.

Sixty-one of the fires occurred in Vientiane, causing over 24 billion kip in damages.

One fire occurred last week in Nongbone village, Xaysettha district, where a house burned down after an electrical short-circuit in a bedroom.

The house was owned by Ms Sanila, 68, and the blaze caused damages estimated at over 800 million kip.

The police and Vientiane Rescue deployed fire trucks to bring the blaze under control, reporting that the fire took hold very quickly as many of the items inside the house were highly flammable. It took fire fighters about 20 minutes to completely extinguish the flames.

The second fire last week occurred in Phakhao village, Xaythany district. It destroyed one house rapidly and spread to two other houses but was then contained. Luckily, no one died.

The concrete single-storey house that was destroyed was owned by MsChanpheng, 59. The blaze caused damage estimated at over 650 million kip and police and other authorities are currently investigating the cause.

T he Fire Prevention and Protection Police Department has urged residents to check electrical devices before leaving home, to take care when burning rubbish, and not to let children play with fire.

The department also repeated its warning for people to be on guard against accidental fires and not to take risks with electrical wiring or appliances, or to leave burning candles unattended, as these are the most common causes of house fires.

Source: Vientiane Times

PM Urges Agriculture Officials to Realise Country’s Potential

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Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has called on the agriculture and forestry sector to act in the interests of the country by providing green and clean food to the nation and the global market.

The prime minister made the call yesterday when addressing the sector’s annual meeting.

The sizeable rice harvest this year was attributed to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s enhanced food security programme, with 4.2 million tonnes of rice being produced.

Meanwhile, livestock and fish farms are now able to provide an average of 55 kg of meat and fish to every citizen each year.

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, Dr Lien Thikeo said the use of machinery and new techniques in rice cultivation had seen harvests triple in size, and farmers were earning 3.6 million kip a tonne for the crop.

Mr Thongloun praised the achievements of the sector which, he said, despite the previous cold winter, the late onset of the rainy season, locust outbreaks and flooding, had seen 3.2 percent growth in productivity and now comprised 23 percent of GDP.

He stressed that the ministry should not aim solely for higher yields, as this could undermine public trust in crop quality. He said people in many countries were now cautious about high-yielding crops as they doubted whether they were grown in acceptable ways and believed they could be contaminated with chemicals.

“We should not only consider high yields, but rather be producing a small quantity that can be sold for a high price,” Mr Thongloun said.

The prime minister revealed his concerns about some traditional varieties of fruit such as the Nambak orange, which was valued for its special flavour. He said this particular species was in danger of being lost because people were mixing the seeds with those of other orange varieties.

He praised the decision by authorities in the northern provinces to stop the commercial-scale cultivation of bananas, which he said were not traditional Lao varieties and harmed the soil.

Mr Thongloun also advised agriculture officials to step up organic farming in the coming years. This would appeal to foreigners, who would like the idea of visiting a country where they knew they could breathe fresh air, swim in clean water, eat organically farmed food, and buy organically grown and clean produce.

“If we can realise this vision, it will create value and benefit Laos. We have the potential and we can compete,” Mr Thongloun said.

The development of agriculture-related industries was also called for by the prime minister, who said the ministry should provide technical assistance to agribusiness.

He pushed for agribusinesses to be grouped into an association that would encourage members to share their creative ideas and boost their market share. He noted that such an association should not force members to take a course of action as this would not be productive.

The four strategic programmes pursued by the ministry are food security, commercial agricultural production, sustainable forest development, and rural development combined with poverty reduction.

A new outcome of the food security programme over the past year was the supply of fresh meat directly from a farm and modern slaughterhouse operated under the first phase of Laos-Hungary cooperation in meat production.

The ministry will also aim for 3-4 percent growth of the sector by 2020.

With regard to forestry, the prime minister praised the ministry for carrying out Prime Min ister’s Order No. 15, which he said restored trust in the government’s plan to achieve forest cover of 70 percent by 2020.

Concerning rural development, Mr Thongloun said the ministry should not focus merely on merging small villages into larger urban units, but should also make sure that adequate amenities were provided so that residents could make a living.

 

Source: Vientiane Times

Laos Gets $850,000 Containerized Data Center

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Laos’ first state-run data center opened recently, funded by a Japanese program supporting environmentally sound technology.

The facility marks “a big step” toward improving the nation’s IT environment, Science and Technology Minister Boviengkham Vongdara said at a ceremony held on Nov. 29 in Vientiane, the capital.

Laos’ information technology infrastructure is among the weakest in Southeast Asia, with state employees often using webmail for official business for want of government email accounts. The new data center will initially provide much-needed network capacity for government institutions.

A Japanese consortium involving internet service provider Internet Initiative Japan, trading company Toyota Tsusho and Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities supported the facility, which was built as a demonstration project.

All funding was provided by Japan under a program run by the government-backed New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, or NEDO. Once the trial phase ends in February 2018, the data center will be handed over to the Laotian government.

The data center’s servers are housed in shipping containers for easy transport and setup — an approach suited to developing countries like Laos. Containerized data centers consume 40% less power than facilities housed in self-standing structures. Setup involves simply transporting the containers to the desired site and connecting all the equipment. In the case of the Laotian project, construction took only seven months or so, or 70% less time than building a conventional data center.

The facility is estimated to cost less than 100 million yen ($850,000), a price that even developing countries can afford. Containerized data centers have also been used in Russia and hold promise as a building block for IT infrastructure in less-developed nations around the world.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review

Ministry To Draft New Health Insurance Law

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Health Insurance Law Laos

The Ministry of Health plans to introduce a Health Insurance Law to improve the healthcare system and ensure patients benefit as intended.

It is expected the law will come into effect in late 2018. It will ensure that money is available to pay patients who are members of the Health Insurance Fund for medical costs specified in the insurance agreement.

A legal expert at the ministry, Dr Chansamone Phengsavanh, told Vientiane Times yesterday the law is needed in response to public demand for an improved healthcare service system for members of the fund.

For several years now, members of the Health Insurance Fund have been complaining of the poor service they have received from hospitals. Patients say that doctors, nurses and other staff don’t provide them with good quality care.

In Laos, they say, health workers still practice old-fashioned working methods just as they did many years ago.

This means they don’t take proper care of hospital patients, believing they need only provide minimal services as they are not required by law to do otherwise.

The Health Insurance Fund is operated by the Social Insurance Agency of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare. But there have been problems with coordination between hospitals and the ministry concerning the reimbursement of treatment costs.

The ministry has been unable to resolve this problem because of the lack of a Healthcare Insurance Law, Dr Chansamone said.

We think that members of the fund will benefit from such a law because the Health Insurance Fund is operated by the Ministry of Health, he added.

The scheme would be administered by a government agency under the ministry so that it would be more efficient and provide a better system for patients, he said.

In 2017-2018, the ministry also plans to strengthen the Law on Disease Control, Hygiene and Health Promotion.

From 2011 to 2015 the following laws have been passed to improve the health sector: Law on Alcoholic Beverages; Healthcare Law; Law on Food; Law on Drugs and Medical Products; Law on Hygiene, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion; Law on HIV/AIDS Control and Prevention; and the Law on Tobacco Control.

According to the National Assembly, Laos now has more than 100 laws in effect.

Source: Vientiane Times

Fewer Businesses Opening in Laos

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fewer businesses opening in laos

The number of entrepreneurs opening businesses in Laos declined by 13 percent over the past 10 months of this fiscal year compared to the same period last year.

According to a recent government report, the number of registered businesses reached 1,666 units from October 2016 to May 2016 with registered capital amounting to 23.8 trillion kip.

Retail and wholesale businesses accounted for 39 percent of the total, followed by transport and warehouse related business (10 percent), construction (8 percent), industrial processing (8 percent), and science and technology (6 percent).

A senior economist at the National Economic Research Institute, Dr Leeber Leebouapao, told Vientiane Times this week that the downturn was linked to several factors including the global economic slowdown, which resulted in declining demand.

“I also think that some business sectors are saturated, such as restaurants,” he added.

Dr Leeber also said the long time it took to approve the setting up of a business was to be blamed as it delayed those wanting to do business and was a deterrent in some cases.

Laos is a landlocked Least Developed Country with a population of 6.5 million people and has strong trade relations with its neighbours including China, Thailand and Vietnam.

While the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has indicated a willingness to shift to the non-resource sectors, it is not clear exactly where this policy intent is directed.

Last year the EU provided 5 million euros for the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry to promote business activities between Laos and the EU.

Several months ago, commercial banks in Laos lowered interest rates on both deposits and loans in line with a decision made by the Bank of the Lao PDR.

The move supports the government’s wish to lower the interest charged on loans and thereby stimulate business activity and lower production costs, which should enable Lao products to be competitive in international markets.

This year, the economy grew by 6.9 percent which was lower than the government’s target of 7.5 percent. However, this growth rate is high compared to other countries in the region.

The economic slowdown in China and falling commodity prices on the world market have impacted on the Lao economy.

In general the Lao economy is vulnerable to external impacts because it relies too heavily on the resource sector.

Economists say it is essential to diversify the economy by encouraging more people to operate businesses that create jobs and generate more revenue for the government.

Another requirement is to make the investment process easier so that local and foreign entrepreneurs are encouraged to do business in Laos.

All of these factors will help to build a strong economic foundation that will enable Laos to be more resilient in the face of the global economic slowdown.

Source: Vientiane Times

Commission Determines to Produce a Competent Workforce

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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The National Human Resource Development Commission is planning to build human resources in the fields of natural science and technology to advance socio-economic development and match regional and international standards.

With the ever quickening pace of development in science and technology, the commission and its development partners are jointly supporting skill upgrades so as to generate a more qualified and larger workforce. The ultimate goal is to bring social services within people’s reach and to improve their living standards.

This information was reported yesterday at the 5th National Human Resource Development Commission Meeting, chaired by Minister of Education and Sports, MsSengdeuaneLachanthaboun.

The meeting, which was attended by members of the commission and officials from the Ministry of Education and Sports, discussed the draft strategy plan for national human resource development from 2016-2020, aiming to accelerate socio-economic development.

Participants suggested there should be a focus on building human resources in the fields of natural science and technology across all educational institutions.

The ministry’s Planning Department put forward strategies for human resource development until 2025, aiming to raise Laos out of Least Developed Country status and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The department’s goal is to ensure that everyone completes lower secondary school. It would also like to see a stronger healthcare network, and the provision of basic education and vocational skills to develop a competent workforce in response to the needs of the labour market.

Sound strategies for human resource development would also help to protect people from the effects of climate change and natural disasters, it was reported.

Another goal of the commission is to strengthen gender equality by encouraging more women to participate in development efforts, and to boost cooperation in human resource development with regional and international sectors.

The government and its development partners are working with the relevant agencies on human resource development, organisational improvement and public service delivery.

They recognise that training needs to incorporate analysis and human resource development planning. It is also necessary to develop models that can be replicated within other agencies and organisations in support of national, government, non-government and local human resource development.

Greater social inclusion of women and those with disabilities is a key focus of human resource development.

The main agencies involved in this effort are the Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Lao National Commission for the Advancement of Women, and the Lao Disabled Persons Association.

Meanwhile, the government and its development partners are helping the National Human Resource Development Commission to strengthen the management and implementation of the national human resource development plan.

Source: Vientiane Times

Ministry Renews Registration for Illegal foreign workers

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To go with AFP story 'Laos-economy-invest-China,FEATURE' by Amelie Bottollier-Depois Photo taken March 11, 2011 shows Chinese workers repairing a road leading to the border town of Boten, a special economic zone land hired by China, in the Northern province of Luang Namtha. Recently still dependent on foreign development aid, Laos is benefitting from massive investments from its vietnamese and chinese neighbours. AFP PHOTO / HOANG DINH Nam

Authorities have extended registration for illegal foreign expatriates who are working in Laos illegally, the Minister of Labour and Social Welfare has said.

The extension was made after the last registration period from January to September this year was phased out, which has registered 24,000 foreigners working illegally in provinces across Laos.

The minister, Dr Khampheng Saysompheng, told local media recently that local workplaces in Laos still need additional labour thus utilising foreigners is still necessary.

He stated that some workplaces or projects in some localities suffered from labour shortages when foreign expatriates who had no work permits were prohibited from work or sent back to their countries of origin.

This impacted the production levels of enterprises or project operations.

Thus, he said, “We decided to continue registering foreign workers [who are still working illegally],” adding that he has told provincial departments to continue carrying out the registration and inspection of the issue.

The 24,000 foreign workers registered during the last phase are mostly Vietnamese, Chinese and Thai nationals respectively, according to information from the Labour Management Department of the ministry.

These foreigners entered Laos as workers with development projects but did not return home after the projects was phased out and their visas became invalid; instead they sought work illegally. Some came in as visitors but sought employment or engaged in trading activities illegally.

The registered alien expatriates whose conditions meet the required criteria were given six months to apply for and obtain legal documents comprising a residence permit, visa and work permit so that they are entitled to work legally in Laos.

To meet the conditions, the foreigners are required to have a workplace to certify their employment. Those foreigners such as hawkers and nail cutters or painters are given three months to clear all things and return hto their home countries afterward.

In a move to supply a larger workforce to meet the growing demand for labour in domestic workplaces, the ministry has set a target to produce 658,000 labourers by 2020 while this year it has provided 132,000 workers.

Source: Vientiane Times

Ministry, Room to Read Laos Extend Support for Rural Education

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The Ministry of Education and Sports and Room to Read Laos are teaming up for the fourth phase of the Enhancing the Education of Lao Children project in six provinces.

The project is funded by the Room to Read Global Office at a cost of US$9 million, or over 72 billion kip. The project will be implemented in Vientiane, Oudomxay, Xayaboury, Saravan, Savannakhet, and Champassak provinces from July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2020.

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Vientiane on Tuesday between the Director General of the Department of External Relations of the Ministry of Education and Sports, Ms Chanthavone Phandamnong, and Country Director of Room to Read Laos Ms Norkham Souphanouvong.

The main activities of the project are to increase access to relevant, appropriate, and quality reading materials by publishing approximately 32 children’s books, the establishment of reading rooms or libraries in 132 schools, and equipping them with approximately 144,000 age-appropriate reading books.

Training and on-going coaching will be provided to 132 primary school directors and 264 Grade One and Grade Two teachers and 132 librarians on the effective teaching of Lao language, library management and reading activities.

The project will also design and implement supplementary teaching materials to boost non-native Lao speaking students’ Lao language skills to enhance learning outcomes.

Another objective is to create school environments that are conducive to learning. To this end, some 30 school buildings and libraries will be built with community participation.

The project aims to engage families and communities to increase their awareness and support of reading. It will also increase collaboration with the government and other NGOs to support policies and programmes to effectively and sustainably impact students’ independent reading abilities. This includes continuing to pilot Grade One and Grade Two Lao language textbooks and providing inputs to the Ministry of Education and Sports in developing the new textbooks and related materials.

Also planned are ongoing research, monitoring and evaluation activities to ensure programme quality and improvements. Imported donated equipment such as computers, books and other educational materials will be use to support the Literacy Programme once or twice a year based on the donations received.

The project aims to continue to support about 1,695 secondary school girls at existing target schools in Oudomxay, Xayaboury and Saravan provinces until they complete upper secondary education or vocational education equivalent to upper secondary education level.

Some materials will be provided for participating girls who qu alify under the project’s assessment criteria. In addition, the project will continue to support approximately 16 secondary school directors and 80 teachers with life skills and monitoring and mentoring techniques in Oudomxay, Xayaboury and Saravan provinces.

Source: Vientiane Times

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