VIENTIANE, LAOS – Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPT) in collaboration with Microsoft hosting Government Solution day event under the theme Empowering Government. The event was chaired by H.E. Dr.Thansamay Kommasith, Minister of MPT, and attended by key government officials and partners from public and private sectors, the event has demonstrated how the government can leverage technology to digitally transform and support social and economic development. The conference was co-chaired by Michelle Simmons, General Manager, Southeast Asia New Markets, Microsoft Asia Pacific.
The initiative is in line with the 8th National Social and Economic Plan, ICT Vision 2030, MPT 5 years strategic ICT development plan, as well as Microsoft’s National Empowerment Plan, which aims to advance the adoption of emerging ICT for sustainable development, to have smart government and generate new business development opportunities, to Industrialize and modernize ICT as tools to drive sustainable social and economic development, be centre for regional and international integration and fostering people engagement.
“Embracing trusted technology, particularly the power of emerging ICT, will be key to enabling Laos’ growing economy to take a giant leap forward, propelling our nation into digital enable community and economy,” said H.E. Dr. Thansamay Kommasith, Minister of Post and Telecommunications of Lao PDR. he further informed that “Government Solution Day affirms our vision to drive inclusive growth, to have smart government, and transforming the way both public and private sectors operate – not only by ensuring accessibility of tools, but also by establishing the right processes and building the digital skills of our citizens.”
Speaking at the Government Solution Day event, Vivek Puthucode, General Manager, Public Sector, Microsoft Asia Pacific, said: “Today, the benefits of the digital economy remains out of reach for many in emerging markets despite the enormous untapped opportunities across various industry sectors. Our approach is to work closely with governments and public sector agencies to support them in overcoming challenges and building more cloud-enabling environments to accelerate their competitiveness, productivity and modernization of operations through trusted technology.”
With the introduction of Microsoft Office 365 business productivity services in Laos, Microsoft also aims to set in motion a reinvention of productivity in enterprises across the nation, transforming employee collaboration and customer engagement through the power of the cloud.
“Besides having access to the right tools, people must also know how to use them,” said Michelle Simmons, General Manager, Southeast Asia New Markets, Microsoft Asia Pacific. “Looking ahead, what will be critical for Laos to thrive is digital literacy. We are working with the government to not only deliver educational programs, but also to support the educators themselves with the right resources to impart science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) skills to local youth, preparing them for jobs of the future.”
In middle of this year Ministry of Post and Telecommunications had inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Microsoft and Ministry of Education and Sport in Laos to develop a youth online learning platform to leverage technology for education, covering a range of programs that will support the development of 21st century skills and employability of students.
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About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
For more information, please contact:
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VIENTIANE – The Prime Minister and the company’s representatives held in-depth discussions on how Huawei can expand its partnership with Laos in the Information and Communications Technology sector.
Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and his delegates visited Huawei’s Beijing R&D (Research and development) Centre on December 1, discussing how Huawei can help develop the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector in Laos.
The visit to the China’s tech giant office was made during the official visit to China by the Lao premier. During the tour to the company, the Prime Minister and the company’s representatives held in-depth discussions on how Huawei can expand its partnership with Laos in the ICT sector.
The Prime Minister and his delegation learned about Huawei’s latest business successes, its industry-leading mobile broadband technologies, ICT solutions like Safe City, and its development of smart phones and tablets.
Prime Minister Thongloun also tried out the Huawei telepresence system, connecting with the Huawei Lao office in Vientiane. He exchanged friendly greetings with Huawei’s Lao staff, and urged the Lao employees to work hard and help to grow their country’s ICT industry.
Ten Lao students interning at Huawei as part of Huawei’s “Seeds of the Future” programme introduced the Huawei smart phone Mate9, Matebook and Huawei Watch, while the prime minister posed and took photos with the students.
Huawei’s “Seeds of the Future” programme brings 10 communications students from Laos to China on short term ICT study. This is Huawei’s global Corporate Social Responsibility programme that aims to nurture the ICT talents of Laos. It also aims to facilitate the transfer of ICT knowledge, thus supporting Laos to be a digitally empowered nation.
Prime Minister Thongloun congratulated Huawei on its impressive results, both in Laos and around the world. He praised Huawei’s work with telecom operators and government agencies in Laos. The PM said that Huawei’s projects had proved extremely useful during the recent Asean summit hosted by Laos.
The Prime Minister encouraged Huawei to expand its collaboration with Lao telecom companies and government, and to push its projects through to faster completion. He also thanked Huawei for its sustained investment in Laos and expressed his appreciation for Huawei’s engagement in charitable projects.
Huawei began operating in Laos back in 1998, and since then its business in Laos has grown steadily. Huawei works closely with the Lao telecom operators LTC, ETL, Unitel, Beeline, and Sky Telecom. The company is an active participant in government ICT projects, and Huawei helped Ministry of Post and Telecommunications to release the 10-year ICT development white paper at the Lao National Broadband forum hosted on November 30. Huawei smart phones such as the P9 and Mate 8 are very popular in Laos.
Home to some of the most complex rock formations in Southeast Asia, Laos looks to cash in on cave tourism.
Since the late 19th century, the geological wonders of Laos have captured the interest of foreign explorers, not just for its striking mountain ranges, fertile Mekong River floodplains and waterfalls – but also for what lies beneath the surface. Countless caves have been revealed within the towering karst massifs and limestone mountains that dominate much of Laos’ picturesque landscape.
While many of these subterranean beauties have been transformed into worthy tourist attractions, others are in a continual state of exploration. For fast-developing Laos, whose major economies are mining and tourism, the caves represent an opportunity to unlock the potential of swathes of the landlocked country’s remote areas to the world. As the sport of spelunking gains traction, isolated villages are looking to cash in on this rise in visitors. Yet as experts have pointed out, great care needs to be taken in balancing the complex needs of locals and the conservation of the cave’s delicate ecosystems – one wrong step can cause irreversible damage – with the commodification of Laos’ natural assets.
“Cave tourism can have a highly positive impact on local employment and development, and a very large positive impact on the reputation of Laos, but not all caves are suitable for tourism,” said Claude Mouret, a French geologist who has spent the last 25 years researching and documenting caves in Laos.
“Developing cave tourism means selecting caves that are not too fragile with respect to the underground life. Safety must also be a concern. Caves have a risk of flooding even if there is no underground river. If you move a boulder or drill a hole, you can change the stability of the cave. Precautions need to be taken, but it’s not so easy to have all the aspects satisfied at the same place.”
Mouret together with his expedition partner Jean-François Vacquié carry the distinction of being the first two explorers to embark on modern cave and karst investigations in Laos. Since 1991, the caving duo has mapped roughly 100 caves in the small nation, totalling 170km. Moreover, Mouret and Vacquié have contributed to the opening of several “safari” and “tourist” caves such as the infamous Tham Konglor in Khammouane province as well as Xe Bang Fai – one of the largest river caves in the world, with a 7km channel snaking through it.
“Regarding tourism, we have to consider two kinds of caves: Tourist caves such as Konglor or Tham Nang Aen Cave have dedicated installations such as walkways and steps to improve visitor safety,” said Mouret. “Safari caves such as Nam Non and Tham Heup have no dedicated installations. They inspire the unknown, and I think people like the mystery, the feeling of being an explorer – even if they are not really one. [They enjoy] overcoming the physical possibilities of their body and fighting mental fears.”
According to the Department of Planning and Investment in Laos, there are 32 villages in Khoun Kham district with a combined population of 22,163 people.
In 2015, 27,448 tourists visited Konglor cave in Khoun Kham, a substantial increase of 86% from the previous year. The total revenue from tourism for the district amounted to roughly $334,000.
Recognising the economic value of caves as tourist destinations, the local Khammouane tourism authority in central Laos’ Ban Nahin village is now embarking on an ambitious endeavour to open up a little-known but magnificent cave called Khoun Keo. Home to venomous vipers, long-legged centipedes, furry huntsman spiders and other cave-dwelling critters, Khoun Keo is certainly not for the faint-hearted. But from the standpoint of the ambitious tourism authority, the cave’s twisting labyrinth of striking stalactites, stalagmites and delicate columns is the perfect playground to lure in the growing number of adventurous explorers.
“We have an opportunity to increase tourism to Nahin by opening Khoun Keo to the public,” said Vilaisak Souvannarath, director of the Khammouane Information, Culture and Tourism Authority. “We also have an opportunity to develop community-based ecotourism to raise employment in the village. But we have to do it right.”
Situated in the permo-carboniferous limestone at the base of the Phou Phaman mountain range in Ban Khoun Kham district, Khoun Keo is well revered among the locals and tourism authority alike. According to Souvannarath, the cave – only discovered in 2012 by a subsistence farmer named Seng – holds spiritual element for Ban Nahin.
Photo by Gabriele Stoia.
“Seng discovered the cave after God appeared to him in a dream, telling him to open up the way. After finding the cave, he discovered it had three underground lakes,” said Souvannarath. “God wants us to open the cave but he also wants us to protect it.”
The significance of the cave pools is not lost on the tourism authority. According to Souvannarath, hundreds of locals once lived beside the Nam Theun River, a tributary of the mighty Mekong, and used it to irrigate their crops. This changed in 2011, when the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower plant (one of Laos’ biggest hydroelectric projects), upstream from the village, started diverting the river. While scores of people had to be relocated, Nam Theun 2 Power Company built more than a thousand new homes as well as rainwater collection tanks and water pumps. Early on, the measures that the company took to mitigate the dam’s environmental and social impacts were applauded by the World Bank as a model to emulate, yet according to the latest report from the International Panel of Environmental and Social Experts, challenges regarding resettlement still need to be addressed. Some NGOs have also questioned the impact of the dam on the river’s ecosystem and the communities that depend on it further downstream.
In Ban Nahin, Seng and a few of his neighbours opted to relocate to a parcel of land beside the Phou Phaman Mountains. While the dam had cleared the land, the villagers did not have easy access to water. According to Souvannarath, the discovery of cave pools inside the mountains has allowed the villagers to greatly improve their food security.
“Locals use these underground lakes to water their crops. Instead of planting just rice they’re now growing different crops like pineapple and cassava all year-round,” he said. “We really have to take this into consideration.”
Until recently, Monenoy Keomanixai – a former tour guide in Ban Nahin – was working with authorities towards opening the cave to tourists. While Keomanixai now works as an administrator for a power scheme in Bolikhamxay province, he continues to keep a close eye on the project’s development.
“We want people to come and we want people to stay, but we also need to focus on conservation of the region’s natural and cultural heritage. We can’t have tourists trekking through farmer fields and destroying crops to get to Khoun Keo. We can’t have them getting hurt while they’re exploring the cave, and we don’t want to have tourists not care about the village and its people. We don’t want another Vang Vieng,” he said.
Situated some 450km away, Vang Vieng serves as a cautionary tale for Keomanixai, who remembers hearing stories about the village and its transformation into an epicentre for scantily clad backpackers looking to get wasted and ‘tube’ down the river. After a spate of deaths and injuries, the government shut the party down in 2012. While no longer in its hedonistic heyday, the village continues to attract drunken revellers – albeit on a much smaller scale.
“In the past few years, more tourists come through Nahin. They do a motorbike loop starting from Thakhek. It’s becoming very popular and bringing money to the area,” said Keomanixai.
While tourism has become an increasingly important component of Laos’ development policy, enabling poverty reduction in many rural communities, Keomanixai said Khoun Keo will not open until 2017 or 2018.
“A boulder from the cave entrance has already been removed to improve visitor access and safety. Mr. Seng and another village guide will lead the cave tours, but there is still so much more to consider,” he said.
Under review are walkways and steps to improve safety and prevent damage to the natural cave floor. Mapping and a clear understanding of the cave’s ecosystem are also required to move the project forward. Still, if plans come to fruition, Keomanixai sees more positives than negatives.
“Khoun Keo is like stepping into a magical world. We know that once it’s open, the beauty of Khoun Keo will be shared among tourists, especially those who love nature. It will bring very good luck to Nahin.”
Valmet will deliver key technology for a new green field dissolving pulp mill to Sun Paper’s new investment in Laos. The mill site, Muang Phin, is located in the southern province of Savanakhet. The target is to start pulp production during the 2nd quarter of 2018.
The order is included in Valmet’s fourth quarter 2016 orders received. The value of the order is around EUR 20 million.
“This is our first international investment where we are expanding beyond China. Laos has shown to be a good location for this mill from where we will supply high profit dissolving to China. China is an important market for dissolving pulp and we expect to gain higher profits from dissolving pulp compared to kraft pulp in China,” says Liu Yanbo, Mill Manager at Sun Paper”.
“We are very pleased to start this dissolving pulp mill project together with Sun Paper. Valmet has long experience and a wide scope of technologies in supplying equipment and processes for the production of dissolving pulp for various end products. Together with our customer we will create a mill producing pure high-quality pulp,” says Pasi Mäkelä, Vice President, Pulp Mill Sales at Valmet.
Valmet has strong market position and is systematically increasing its presence at the Asia Pacific region. All of Valmet’s businesses are present in the area and in 2015 it represented about 13% of Valmet’s net sales, excluding China that represented another 10 % of Valmet’s net sales. Valmet has 10 service points in the area and is opening a new services center in Indonesia in 2017.
Technical details about the delivery
Valmet delivery to Sun Paper’s new 250 kt/year dissolving pulp mill in Laos includes key technology for various process areas. Valmet’s scope of supply includes batch cooking with engineering package, brown stock and bleaching presses for the fiber line, wood powder firing, belt dryer and lime kiln. Valmet also establishes site services for all goods delivered.
The batch cooking is an ideal fit for this kind of dissolving pulp production. In batch cooking the process can utilize raw materials with varying quality. The wood powder firing solution provides fuel for the lime kiln solution and reduces the need for fossil fuels. This wood power firing implementation is first of its kind in the Asia Pacific region.
About the customer Sun Paper
Sun Paper is one of the biggest private enterprises in China, the biggest high class coated wrapping board production base and the leading enterprise of food wrapping paper board. The business of Sun Paper covers many fields such as papermaking, chemical industry, foreign trade, power, scientific research, forestry and paper industry, hotel, investment, textiles, and food. The company has more than 10,000 employees, and the annual pulp and paper production capacity of Sun Paper is around 5.7 million tons.
VALMET
Corporate Communications
For further information, please contact:
Pasi Mäkelä, Vice President, Pulp Mill Sales, Valmet, tel. +358 40 505 4199
Valmet is the leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation and services for the pulp, paper and energy industries. We aim to become the global champion in serving our customers.
Valmet’s strong technology offering includes pulp mills, tissue, board and paper production lines, as well as power plants for bioenergy production. Our advanced services and automation solutions improve the reliability and performance of our customers’ processes and enhance the effective utilization of raw materials and energy.
Valmet’s net sales in 2015 were approximately EUR 2.9 billion. Our 12,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers’ performance forward – every day. Valmet’s head office is in Espoo, Finland and its shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki.
Vietnam’s giant telecom levels call and data charges between three ASEAN neighbors.
HO CHI MINH CITY — Vietnam’s state-owned telecom Viettel will eliminate overseas roaming charges between its operators in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from January 2017.
“Users of Metfone in Cambodia, Unitel in Laos and Viettel in Vietnam will be charged at the local mobile fee when they make cross-border calls to each other,” said Nguyen Manh Hung, Viettel’s managing director, who regards the three countries as an economic and cultural bloc.
Discussions about free roaming services started years ago in Australia, Europe, and New Zealand, but without bearing fruit. Free roaming within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has also been discussed by regional ministers since 2013.
Viettel has well-established infrastructure in the three countries, and is the first telecom to launch such a service within a regional economic bloc, promising cheaper cross-border rates for calls and data.
In a statement released on Thursday, Viettel said it expected its individual operators to lose some revenue initially with the reduced charges, but provided no figures. The figure could be 2% according to one Europe model in 2013. Viettel expects users to become more active when they travel if they can continue paying domestic rates.
Military-run Viettel posted revenue of $9.7 billion in 2015 with 13% year-on-year growth, and profits up 8% to $2 billion.
As of September 2016, Viettel had 90 million customers, of which 26 million were in nine overseas markets: Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Haiti, Laos, Mozambique, Peru, Tanzania, and Timor Leste. Viettel has targeted 25 countries by 2020.
Cambodia and Laos were Viettel’s first foreign ventures, and remain its most profitable. By August, Unitel in Laos had $1 billion in accumulated revenue over seven years and aggregate profit of $300 million. Unitel has a brand value of $132 million, making it one of the 30 most valuable in the region and top in Laos, according to a report by UK-based Brand Finance in April. The company currently has more than 2.5 million customers. It accounts for 47% of Laos’s mobile market and 35% of the broadband market.
Metfone in Cambodia has a brand value of $94 million and is the leading mobile service provider in the country with 5.5 million customers and 37% market share. It recorded $256 million in revenue last year.
Viettel already operates in East Timor, and is about to launch in Myanmar with a $1.5 billion commitment and two local partnerships. It is also believed to be negotiating its entry into Indonesia.
Viettel is targeting $1.5 billion in gross revenue from its overseas markets this year, up from $660 million in 2015. This has been driven by expansion of profitable third- and fourth-generation services. Overseas revenues were up 13% year on year in the first half of 2016.
LSX lost 2.00 points or 0.19 percent, at 1,029.74 points as BCEL decreased 150 kip in price. BCEL today closed at 5,050 kip with a handful of shares traded, 1,600 shares in total. EDL-Gen closed unchanged at 5,100 kip with 800 shares matched. LWPC, PTL and SVN closed at 5,900 kip, 2,500 kip and 3,000 kip respectively.
LSX moved up 27.20 points on Thursday to finish higher at 1,031.74 points. The trading volume, however, did not seem to have any improvement, with only just 5,300 shares traded, mostly EDL-Gen’s shares.
BCEL today edged up to 5,200 kip, increasing by 200 kip, with only 100 shares, while EDL-Gen was up by 150 kip to close at 5,100 kip. The three other stocks still closed unchanged with no trading.
Ms Varissara Tangsouvanh is a representative delegate from Laos participating in the Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International 2016 pageant, which is entering its final stages this week.
The final round of the pageant will take place on December 18 to select the best representative of tourism in her respective country.
The ladies represent 55 different countries and have participated in the pageant since November 28 in Shanghai to promote tourism and the exchange of culture.
Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International is a world class event that honours the exceptional participants, who gracefully uphold the epitome of beauty, composure, good moral character and personality.
Throughout this stage of the event, the neighbouring countries and the world will learn more about Laos and Lao culture as Ms Varissara enters the final round. The attention will now be on her much more than previous rounds.
First Modeling Lao Representative, Mr Viengsamone Chittalath, who initially hired Ms Varissara as a model, urges Lao people to follow her progress as she promotes Lao culture to the world.
