Photograph: Alexandre Teynié/WWF
Source: The Guardian
Mobile phone users in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam – the so-called CLV countries – will not have to pay roaming charges if they make calls through Viettel’s network, a cell-phone group owned by Vietnam’s military.
“Subscribers of Viettel in Vietnam, Unitel in Laos and Metfone in Cambodia can make phone calls to each other at the same price as domestic calls,” stated a Viettel statement on Thursday. The statement said that Unitel and Metfone are Viettel’s subsidiaries in Laos and Cambodia.
“This policy makes Viettel the first mobile service provider in the world removing roaming charges for subscribers of its networks abroad,” it added.
At the recent CLV summit, in Siem Reap, hosted by Prime Minister Hun Sen, the leaders of the three nations agreed to waive mobile phone roaming charges for cell-phone users in their respective countries.
Other than Laos and Cambodia, Viettel also operates in Timor-Leste, Cameroon, Haiti, Mozambique, Burundi, Peru and Tanzania.
Source: Khmer Times
Lao experts and their development partners met in Vientiane to discuss a climate change mitigation project, hoping to improve on the previous year’s efforts.
A workshop last week in Vientiane to review the project was attended by Asian development Bank to Laos (AD B) Representative, Ms Linda Adams, Netherlands Development Organisation to Laos Advisor, Ms Katrina Hergstrom, along with concerned officials and other participants.
The Project Harnessing Climate Change Mitigation Initiatives to Benefit Women has been focusing on providing space for stakeholders dedicated to gender and mitigation to showcase their initiatives and identify opportunities to collaborate.
Deputy Director General of Department of Disaster Management and Climate Change under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Mr Syamphone Sengchandala told the workshop climate change was a critical issue for Laos.
Changing weather, floods and droughts affect our food security, water supplies, transport and urban infrastructure. Because a large proportion of Lao people, and especially women, depend on agriculture and natural resources, they are increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change he said.
Mr Syamphone noted that for several years authorities had learned a great deal about how to ensure that climate change initiatives were gender-responsive, and involved women from the project.
Local rivers and mountains also offered a great opportunity for Laos to contribute to climate change mitigation through development of hydro-electricity for export and domestic use, he said.
We need international support to be able to benefit fully from new climate finance opportunities, he added.
He also highlighted how women could improve their lives, building businesses as providers of clean energy technologies to contribute to climate change mitigation.
They are also responsible for household energy needs and can benefit from time and cost savings as well as improved health impacts of domestic-scale clean energy technology.
According to the project, it started in 2013 and has employed a unique partnership model that has engaged women as agents of change at three levels – in climate-related institutions, policies, an d projects.
Over the past three years, project participants have learned much worth sharing from this multilevel, multi-stakeholder model.
They have also recognised that there is a growing opportunity for this learning to serve as a platform for others to identify, advance, and scale up gender-responsive mitigation actions and seek funding aiming to provide space for stakeholders dedicated to gender and mitigation to showcase their initiatives and identify opportunities to collaborate
Source: Vientiane Times
Officials from concerned line ministries and their international partners have reaffirmed their commitment to enhance cooperation and joint efforts to combat the serious threats to society.
The matters were stated by officials during an inaugural national conference to counter the global threats of human trafficking, smuggling of migrants and organised crime, held recently in Vientiane.
The conference was staged at the Office of the Supreme People’s Prosecutor (OSPP) in collaboration with the Institute for Legal Support and Technical Assistance (ILSTA) and international partners from Luxembourg and Canada.
The meeting brought together prosecutors, members of the judiciary and police from all 17 provinces in Laos in order to strengthen cooperation and joint efforts to combat these issues, according to ILSTA.
It is very important that we look at all of these issues together and draw lessons of best practice in how to counter them. As globalisation increases, transnational crime and human trafficking proliferates, and it is our responsibility to combat this, the OSPP President Mr Khamsane Souvong said.
A representative from the Ministry of Public Security’s Anti-Human Trafficking Department, Mr Khampane Sayyavong outlined that the department will continue to disseminate information on trafficking and conduct legal training on what constitutes the crime of human trafficking in an effort to address the issues.
Law enforcement officers must be aware of the key elements of human trafficking in order to successfully bring a prosecution against traffickers through the court system, he said. Mr Khampane revealed the methods traffickers use in luring young victims into what is essentially modern-day slavery. The sole purpose of traffickers is to make money by exploiting their victims; mostly those aged 10-25, as they are more vulnerable and easier to control.
Victims are ruthlessly exploited by the traffickers and are often forced into prostitution, beaten, tortured and killed. They suffer physical harm and long-term psychological consequences, Mr Khampane added.
ILSTA President Mr Richard Philippart stressed that transnational crimes can only be addressed effectively through cooperation between law enforcement agencies both within states and beyond their borders.
A representative from the Embassy of Luxembourg, Mr Claude Jentgen stressed that a strong, coordinated response is required in combating the smuggling of migrants and human trafficking.
A representative from the Embassy of Canada, Ms Lee-Anne Herman said that Canada was pleased to support capacity building in Laos in the legal sector and in financial institutions in order to combat illegal transnational activity.
The conference was attended by Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr Ket Kiettisack and other invited guests. The event was supported by the Ministry of Finance of Luxembourg and the government of Canada.
Source: Vientiane Times
Some new competencies are expected to be included into the criteria for evaluating the work performance of deputy directors general (DDG) and directors general (DG) when the government issues a new decree on the evaluation.
Head of the Institute of Administration and Science Research, Dr Chantha Onexaivieng revealed this plan on Friday when talking to Vientiane Times about the successful implementation of the second phase of the executive leadership development programme.
The programme was formulated through cooperation between the Ministry of Home Affairs and Singapore Civil Service College, with the aim of studying and identifying core competencies of Lao civil servants at the directors general level.
Eleven competencies for DGs and DDGs were identified following the completion of the programme’s first phase, which has been continued from 2012 to 2013.
The competencies are ethics and values, personal development, adaptability and managing change, developing staff, influence and negotiation skills (communication, vision and strategic thinking, results-based implementation, analysis and decision-making, understanding policies, public administration and other legislation, and language proficiencies and ICT skills.
We are waiting for the government to issue the decree on the work performance evaluation of civil servants and we hope the competencies will be part of the decree’s content, Dr Chantha said.
Meanwhile, she noted the importance of training to ensure the evaluation skills of the responsible civil servants are effective using the criteria of the competencies.
Fourteen criteria standards were identified by the government for use in the evaluation of civil servants at the DDG and DG levels. They are political attributes; revolutionary competency; vision; policy, strategic planning and financial thinking; knowledge of organisational structures; creativity in managing work; expertise, decision-making; administrative capability; leadership; ethics; trust; comments from other people, and success.
Ninety percent of the US$885,000 in funds for the first phase of the programme came from Temasek Foundation International (TFI).
Cooperation on the programme was continued from 2015 to 2016 to interpret the eleven competencies into training modules, including I want to lead,’ I can change,’ We have a vision,’ We take initiatives,’ and We work together.’
Strengthening institutional capabilities of the senior officers / master trainers to design, develop, and deliver those modules for the top 1.5 percent of DDG/DGs in the Lao civil service was included in the cooperation for the second phase.
The second phase of the project also developed 28 trainers, delivered 10 training courses with 257 participants, of whom 131 were DGs and DDGs, and 126 were heads of divisions.
The ministry has proposed that the five developed modules be approved by the government, and urged their continued delivery as well as the development of trainers at both the central and local levels.
Source: Vientiane Times
Over the past five years, more than 120,500 Lao labourers have registered legally through recruitment agencies to work abroad, but many remain impacted by unsafe migration and exploitation, and could become victims of human trafficking.
This information was outlined by Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Dr Khampheng Saysompheng in a meeting on Friday in Vientiane to mark the 16th anniversary of International Migrants’ Day (December 18).
Dr Khampheng said, the migrant labour problem is increasing in many countries with many workers looking for better jobs and income, safe workplaces for health and living standards, as well as some wanting to develop their skills, while others suffer from hunger, poverty, natural disasters and war.
In Laos, some migrant labourers come from remote areas to work in urban centres while others go to work in neighbouring countries, both legally and illegally.
However, the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare and development partners are paying more attention to migrant labour protection, and have supported some Lao labour to train in agriculture and construction skills abroad every year.
Dr Khampheng said no one alone could prevent the migrant labour problem, but everyone could help by sharing information about labour protection rights, labour laws on safe migration and obtaining the right income and reaching social welfare to alleviate poverty.
The Lao government, local and international organisations have also jointly improved vocational system development and career recruitment.
Currently, there are 18 recruitment agencies in the country, working to arrange jobs for Lao labourers who would like to work in the local region and foreign countries. There are also nine labour recruitment service centres and two information centres for migrant labour.
International Migrants’ Day is held every December 18 to share information with migrant workers. This year the theme was Strengthening employment services to advance the promotion of decent work and safe migration.
The meeting was organised by Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, International Labour Organisation (ILO), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and other development partners.
According to statistics, in 2015, a total of 244 million migrant labourers around the globe live in developing countries.
Source: Vientiane Times
With more than half of the population below the age of 25, the Lao government needs to take advantage of the demographic bonus and address inequality and disparities between ethnic groups and geographic areas.
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Deputy Representative of Laos Ms Ulrika Rehnstrom made the statement during a high-level forum held on Friday.
I am calling for empowering of young people in a holistic manner especially young women and adolescent girls. They deserve special attention and support in grabbing opportunity and claiming their rights, Ms Re hnstrom said.
I hope that public policies including the revised population policy will take the needs of young people into account, particularly adolescent girls.
The objective of the forum was to discuss population policy, in particular the potential future dividend of the demographic opportunity that can help the country achieve inclusive and sustainable growth.
Knowing the population structure is vital for designing effective policies and programmes. The population policy can help us achieve more sustainable and inclusive development, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Dr Kikeo Chanthaboury said.
To ensure benefits from population dynamics, Dr Kikeo stated the ministry was planning to start the revision of the National Population and Development Policy starting in 2017 using new and updated evidence, such as the Population and Housing Census 2015.
The 2015 Population and Housing Census showed the large generation of young people. About 60 percent of the total population is below the age of 25.
Organising this discussion highlights the government’s efforts in bringing population dynamics into socio-economic development of the country, Dr Kikeo added.
The recent Population and Housing Census 2015 indicated a continued growing population from 4.5 million in 2005 to 6.5 million in 2015. However, the population growth rate declined to 1.4 percent per annum between 2005 and 2015.
The average number of children per women decreased to 3.2 at present from 6.4 in 1985. These provide both opportunities and challenges for the country’s development.
The population aged 10-24 accounts for 32 percent. The work age population continues to rise from 57 percent in 2005 to 64 percent in 2015.
Fertility and mortality continue to decline. These features provide Laos with unique opportunities and challenges for the country, according to UNFPA.
The Lao government after adopting its commitment to the International Conference on Population and Development developed the National Population and Development Policy in 1999 aiming to ensure a balance between population and development and improve the life of people.
The policy was revised in 2006. After 10-years of its implementation, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, therefore, would like to take stock and revise the policy to meet the current population and socio-economic context of the country.
The forum was organised by the Ministry of Planning and Investment with support from UNFPA.
Source: Vientiane Times
The government has set the target of developing and expanding the nation’s information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure, according to a leading official.
This was the message highlighted by Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Bounthong Chitmany during the closing day of a meeting from December 15-16 in Vientiane which summarised the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications’ work over the past year and revealed plans for next year concentrating on expansion of ICT infrastructure.
He called on the ministry to accelerate the rollout of connections and internet speeds, along with improving quality standards while keeping costs low.
Laos needed to have a national data and information centre for saving all electronic data of ministries and government-private organisations around the country, he said.
Other needs included inspections to confirm the technical standards of telecommunications equipment and their compliance with international standards at a reasonable price.
Dr Bounthong called for the continuation of awareness raising campaigns so people in society fully understood how to use social media appropriately while paying attention to ICT human resource development and guidance of Laos’ first telecommunications satellite (Lao Sat-1) project.
During the meeting, the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Dr Thansamay Kommasith also gave a presentation on the achievements of the ministry. The past year involved capacity building for the ministry’s officials in the use of ICT systems and operations, especially concerning Lao Sat-1, as well as paying attention to social media management.
The ministry has responsibility for managing the nation’s ICT and has concentrated on developing modern technical structures such as the National Internet Centre, Cyber Safe Protection Centre, Lao Computer Emergency Response Centre, National Transmission Line, and the Lao Satellite.
The ministry has also improved and developed legislation to manage and improve ICT such as the laws on telecommunications, posts, prevention and combating cyber crime and the law on information technology.
However the ministry recognised IT as a double-edged sword as it has faced challenges in the areas of knowledge and capacity building in ICT use.
The IT sector will play a major role in society and socio-economic development. The government aims to develop all working sectors of ICT in a bid to create an advanced government administration in the modern digital era.
For next year’s plan, the ministry will continue implementing the Party’s policy and socio-economic development plan relevant to the sector.
Source: Vientiane Times
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