1. Ministry Revamps Passports 
2. PM Says Trade Must Pick Up
3. Vientiane Municipality A Development Showcase 
4. Lao PDR: Its Human Rights Tasks 
5. Lao Lives Still Threatened By The War Legacy 
6. Expat Leader In Laos To See For Himself 
7. Foreign Visitors Can Enter And Exit Through International Checkpoints  
8. Government Rejects Radio Free Asia Broadcast 

PM SAYS TRADE MUST PICK UP

This year's trade deficit is further evidence of the need for the sector to become a major aspect of the national economy, said Prime Minister Bounnhang Vorachit at the recent Annual Trade Meeting.

Speaking at the October 29-31 conference, the PM called the trade sector a chain in the national economy and sought for certain measures to preserve the balance of trade.

Some 162 state and private officials concerned with trade nationwide gathered in Vientiane to hold the annual meeting and listened to advice and guidelines from the Prime Minister, followed by a presentation of the plan of action for next year by the Acting Minister of Trade, Siosavath Saveangsuksa.

Last year, the trade sector did not enjoy good management at both macro and micro levels especially in the prevention of the inflation rate, reduction of unnecessary imported goods, implementation of domestic production and exports.

The PM asked state and private officials concerned with trade to solve the problems by grasping the role of a chain in socioeconomic development. Trade, according to the PM, has the potential to solve the poverty of the people and provide facilities to circulate the exchange of merchandise and encourage healthy supply and demand in local markets.

Mr Bounnhang said: "Laos is an undeveloped country and the people are still poor even though the public sector has more of a role to play in the chain. We need production skills, progressive materials and an exchange system which gives the people the necessities of life so that they ran solve their poverty."

The PM also said that now that the country has launched its policy of transition to market economy, trade is more important to create the facilities for the people to produce and earn hard currency. The trade sector needs to preserve a manageable balance and support domestic production while setting a clear strategy and targets. "The target of trade is marketing to serve the production of domestic goods and to provide incentive for traders to bring in foreign currency to the national economy. This is achieved by exportation directly or after the value has been added to domestic and foreign products."

According to the annual report, the trade volume for the 2001-2002 fiscal year fell below target. Imports reached over US$ 533 million instead of the target US$ 565 million. If compared to last year, it is an increase of only one percent.

Meanwhile, exports reached only US$ 322 million instead of US$ 357.5 million. If compared to last year, it is a reduction of 0.7 percent. The fall has been attributed to a fall in the volume of many formerly tradable goods such as wood, which is now non-exportable in large unprocessed volumes. Mineral exports also declined 20.18 per cent as the demand of foreign markets decreased. Coffee exports reduced 36.13 percent after world market prices plummeted. Garment exports reduced 0.2 percent due to competition in the world market since China became a full member of the World Trade Organization.

This fiscal year, foreign trade, especially between Laos and Vietnam has proceeded regularly but exports to Vietnam have plummeted especially the timber, motorcycles, fans and gluey stone. The trade value reaches over US$ 40 million including the export cost of over US$ 21 million. Lao-Chinese trade has reached over US$ 33 million including export costs of over US$ 22 million.

Trade with ASEAN countries covers 57 percent of all exports while ASEAN imports cover 50 percent of the total to Laos.
 

 
VIENTIANE MUNICIPALITY A DEVELOPMENT SHOWCASE

Over the last 27 years, Vientiane municipality has developed remarkably and shows signs of returning to its former position of regional strength.

According to a report, the municipal economy has grown at a rate of 5-8 percent per year. In 2001-2002, Vientiane-municipality achieved a gross turnover of some 4,045 billion kip, a 2.85 percent increase on the last year. The average citizen of Vientiane municipality earns US$ 649 per year.

Vientiane Municipality has invested 130 billion kip in the socioeconomic sector in 552 projects. The figure is an increase of many times compared with that of ten years ago. According to one estimate, the projects have succeeded in producing 99.15 percent of their targets.

The outstanding field is the agricultural sector. Rice production has reached 72,200 tones, an increase of 2.24 per cent compared with 2001 and double that of the average 1980s levels. The harvest is 3.89 tones per hectare. The increase is due to the increasing use science and technology in production. Irrigation systems were first built 20 years ago and Vientiane farmers never had a dry-season harvest. Now there are 24,000 hectares as of dry-season rice fields. Vientiane municipality also has rice storage, facitities for sale.

Vientiane municipality has 10,000 hectares of crash crops. It has 157 livestock farms including 38 pig farms, 100 egg and chicken meat farms, four fish farms and four state livestock farms. This covers 62.48 percent of the domestic need for meat.

There are 65 markets in Vientiane municipality including six major markets. In 2001-2002, some 145 new enterprises were registered with a total capital of 80.44 billion kip. In eleven Months of this year, exports from Vientiane municipality reached US$ 5.37 million.

Tourism in Vientiane municipality has been continually promoted. In the passing year, Vientiane municipality earned more than US$ 24 million from tourism, with a total 304,500 tourists visiting the capital. Tourism facilities have also developed. Now there are 30 hotels, .105 guesthouses 47 restaurants and 34 tourist sites.

According to Vientiane's deputy mayor, poverty has been reduced by 34.39 per cent, or 2,323 poor families have graduated. Poverty reduction has been conducted by encouraging farmers to produce for trade and education and public health have been brought to local communities.

Vientiane municipality presently has 667 schools and 96.6 percent of children aged 6 to 10 attend school. The rate of students who repeat the same class is only 2 per cent and the rate of students finishing school is 97.5 percent. The paper also reported that now most Vientiane citizens use public health services.

Presently Vientiane municipality has 1,467 factories with a total registered capital of more than 749 billion kip. The outstanding sector is the garment industry. Exports of garments were worth more than 33 million kip this year.

The paper reported that a month ago Vientiane municipality earned 408 billion kip providing 97.30 billion kip in revenue to the Government. In 2002-03, Vientiane municipality will focus on increasing the national budget  and trying to make the economy grow steadily.

LAO PDR: ITS HUMAN RIGHTS TASKS

The 54th Anniversary Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, December 10, 1948 – December 10, 2002

ON International Human Rights Day this year, the Government of the Lao PDR has made a statement expressing respect for the importance of the day as well as satisfaction with the achievements in promoting and protecting human rights worldwide. Following are excerpts from the statement.

The Lao PDR will continue to cooperate with the UN and other international bodies by exchanging ideas on ways to implement human rights. This is based on respect for the independence and sovereignty of each nation and sincerity in order to bring genuine peace and prosperity to the globe.

The Lao PDR, is a nation that has undergone the evolution of historical development for several thousand years. Since the ancestral time, Lao people have developed their cultural identity, generosity, honesty and peace-loving character. They also have the tradition of unity among ethnic groups and they have built Laos into a prosperous country over many epochs.

Laos was invaded and occupied by foreign countries. Laos was under Siam for more than 155 years, then under the old colonialism for more than 60 years and the new colonialism for more than 30 years, during which period the imperialists dropped about three million tones of bombs on Laos. Through the difficult struggle full of sacrifice for national independence, the fundamental rights of the Lao people were guaranteed.

On December 2, 1975 the Lao, People's Democratic Republic was established. It is the regime the Lao people chose as suitable to the country's features in geography, cultural values, tradition and environment. Since then the Lao people have become the owners of the country.   

Since 1986, the Lao PDR has conducted a, policy of renovation shifting from a central command, economy in the past to a market economy. As a result, the national economy has continued to grow while the living conditions of the people have been improving. At the same time, the Party and the Government of Laos have a policy of building the country to be a state ruled by law. In 1991, the Constitution, the mother law of the country was promulgated. Part III of the Constitution stipulates the, fundamental rights of the people in all areas.

Furthermore, the Lao PDR has laws endorsed by the National Assembly and tens of other legislation created by the Government relating to the respect, protection and promotion of the human rights of the Lao people of all ethnic groups. These laws include the law on the election of members to the National Assembly, the criminal law, the law on the proceedings of criminal cases, the labor law, the law on education, the law on family, the law on nationality, and the prime minister's decree on religions.

At the international level, the Lao PDR has been party, to nine international conventions on human rights. With a desire to protect and promote human rights in December 2000 the Lao Government signed two more conventions on human rights, namely the International Covenant on Political and Civilian Rights and the international Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. On the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1998, the Lao PDR held an official celebration of the international event chaired by Mr. Somsavat Lengsavad, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs.

In furtherance of the protection and promotion of human rights, the Lao PDR has disseminated human rights by publishing compilations of some human rights conventions and organizing seminars on international law and human rights. Although the Lao PDR does not have a national human rights commission like some other countries, it has mechanisms to work on human rights in a quite systematic manner, namely a coordination desk on human rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and other government organizations and mass organizations that are concerned with human rights affairs.

For instance, the Lao Front for National Construction is dealing with religious and ethnic affair, the Lao Women's Union and the National Committee for the Advancement of Women with women rights affairs, the Lao People's Revolutionary Youth Union with youth and children's affairs, the National Commission for Mother and Child with the protection of the rights of the child, the Lao Trade Union with the protection of the rights of working people, the National supervising committee on the abolition of the use of child labor, and the project for prevention of trade in women and children at the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

However, there are some groups of people living overseas, who do not understand the reality of the Lao PDR. They have tried to blame the Lao PDR in various ways. For example, they accuse the Lao Government of restricting religious freedom, suppressing minority groups (mainly Hmong tribes), arresting people who express their viewpoints, torturing prisoners and so on. All of these are groundless. They lack reason and have no factual or logical basis. They are simply a fabrication.

At the 29th Conference in August 2001, the UN human rights desk agreed not to continue to consider two letters of complaints of a group of these people. The decision of the desk indicates, that the UN General Assembly has given justice to the Government of Laos, which has the right policy towards the promotion and protection of human rights. It also reflects the attempts of the Lao Government on human rights affairs through its condition and capacity as a member of the UN community.

In the 20th Century, the world suffered from two world wars. The terror of the wars is, buried in the memory of all nations and no one expects such a history to happen again. After World War II, the United Nations was founded, aiming to secure global peace and stability.

One of targets of the United Nations is to secure human rights all over the world.

To organize and, amplify this aim, on December 1, 1948 the United Nations General Assembly approved the universal declaration of human rights, which was a historical event important for the people all over the world. The statement was declared all over the world to acknowledge the equality and dignity of the people.  People of all races have freedom and equality before the law. The statement also expressed the basic rights and freedom each person should receive.

Afterwards, those rights have been enhanced and become effective after approval of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Convention on Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Convention on the Rights of the Child and other conventions.

Al the same time the United Nations established the mechanism of human rights within which the human rights commission meets every year in Geneva, Switzerland to consider issues regarding the prevention and promotion of human rights around the world.

Another important event was that in 1993, the United Nations General Assembly organized the Universal Conference on Human Rights in Vienna, Austria with participation of representatives from all continents. Lao PDR also sent its representatives to attend the conference. The conference adopted a declaration and action plan on human rights in the future. This is a duty of the countries participating in the meeting to turn it into reality according to each country's situation. This declaration is universal, and inseparable, inter-linked and inter-dependent, and recognizes the rights to development of nations.

The same year, after the world meeting, the UN appointed the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights with duties to promote human rights. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is the center of the activity of the  UN human rights mechanism to provide technical assistance and give advice to each state as requested increase international cooperation inhuman rights affairs, and coordinate work on human rights through the UN.

LAO LIVES STILL THREATENED BY THE WAR LEGACY

As a result of its close proximity to the Indochina war, for more than 20 years the Lao people found themselves embroiled in deadly conflict, which saw fighting across the country and over two million tons of bombs dropped onto villages.

The war in Laos came to an end in 1975, but the suffering borne from the war did not stop. The Lao landscape was and still is littered with thousands of tons of left-over munitions, bombs and landmines. These items of unexploded ordnance kill and injure people and are a huge impediment to development in this country.                  

In the last three decades more than 12,000 people, many of them children, have been killed or injured in Laos by unexploded ordnance. Most of these deaths were caused by bombies, small tennis-ball sized anti-personnel devices, dropped in huge casings called cluster bombs. An estimated 90 million bombies were dropped on Laos. With an average 10-30 percent still on the ground, they make this country one of the most heavily ordnance-contaminated places in the world. Worse still, bombies make attractive toys for children playing in shallow dirt, and are also frequently struck by farmers tilling the land.

But perhaps the most important aspect of this legacy of war is the effect it has on development. Rural communities, who are already some of the poorest people in Laos, and indeed the region, cannot boost their food security or, income levels because their fields are still deadly. Construction and much-needed infrastructure development cannot take place without costly and time-consuming bomb clearance work. The bitter irony for many rural Lao is that often households are reluctant to expand agricultural production when this is necessary because it is too hazardous to clear the land. One quarter of villages in Laos report that unexploded bombs threaten their physical safety, food security and livelihoods.

The problem continues. However, much good work has been completed by UXO Lao and its partner organizations. Since 1996, over 375,000 bombs or pieces of munitions have been recovered from the countryside and destroyed, much land has been cleared for agricultural use and 850,000 people have been educated in bomb awareness. The death toll is dropping but it is still too high. Nearly one death or injury front unexploded weaponry from the war is reported in Laos every other day. The fight is far from over.
Much of the reduced number of deaths can be attributed not to a massive decrease in the number of bombs in the ground, but to increased national understanding of the issue. Education and community awareness programs, which tell  villagers to steer clear of unexploded bombs, are obviously doing their job. One only needs to visit any classroom in the country to see colorful UXO posters, illuminating the fact, that unexploded ordnance is a way of life in Laos. Thanks to UXO Lao and its partners, awareness of the dangers of unexploded ordnance are as familiar to Lao people as the warnings on cigarette packets are to people in other countries.

Although Laos has had nearly 27 years of peace, this legacy of war is a battle that is far from won.
 

EXPAT LEADER IN LAOS TO SEE FOR HIMSELF

Prominent leader of the Hmong community in the United States, Dr. Yangdao was invited to Laos recently to see for himself the progress in development and the lives of the people.

Speaking on December 5 he described how he had returned to his homeland after 27 years to discover a transformed country.

Visiting for a short period to take part in the celebrations of the ethnic new year festival and meet Lad leaders, Yangdao described how development had reached so many aspects of the country he once.

Dr. Yangdao, who arrived on November 22 for a three-week visit said: "So many things have changed. When I travel to some places in Vientiane I could not remember them," he said. "I have seen the real situation here and when I returned to my home in the USA and have a chance to travel to Europe I will tell my relatives what I have seen and heard, in order to persuade them to visit their homes here,” he said. “It will help build the state of unity and help them to contribute to our homeland,” he added. 

Before he came to visit Laos, he had the idea that Laos was advanced because he had talked with, other Lao who had visited Laos before him. "I met the Lao Ambassadors to the US in Washington, DC and had a chance to talk to Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat Lengsavad. They explained to me about national development after the war," he said.

"Afterward, I wanted to see the changes in Laos for myself. When I arrived here the changes they talked about were true,” he said.

"I am very happy to have the opportunity to return to see my homeland and be reunited with my relatives, my new and old friends here," said Dr. Yangdao, who now teaches linguistics and social science at the University of Minnesota.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Lao Front for National Construction have helped me to travel to many local areas, especially in the northern provinces of Laos,” added Yangdao.

He also visited the Theun-Hinboun Hydroelectric Station, in Khammouan province and visited the cement factory in Vang Vieng, then he traveled to Luang Prabang, Oudomsay and Sayaboury provinces.

"I met and talked to international tourists, especially those who come from France, USA and Australia. I asked them why they visit Laos. What things are they impressed by?" he asked. "And they said that, the most impressive things are the smiles of Lao people and the peaceful life and security of the country, " he added.

He said that he went to Xieng Khuang province, where he used to live during the Indochina War. "I am proud of the ethnic people there who have joined hands to build their province which is also becoming more fertile step by step. Phonsavan district has roads linking neighboring provinces and there are guest houses and hotels there."
"I have seen all ethnic groups unite to build national solidarity. The Government policy gives the right to all ethnic groups to contribute to nation building as well as the administration of the country," he said. "I am very proud of these things," he added.
 

FOREIGN VISITORS CAN ENTER AND EXIT THROUGH INTERNATIONAL CHECKPOINTS 

The Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, informed that from the beginning of January 2003, foreign citizens holding valid passports and obtained the entry visas from the Embassies or the Consulate Generals of the Lao PDR abroad can enter or exit through the following International Checkpoints: 

1. Houaixay, BoKeo (Laos) – Xiengkhong, Xiengrai (Thailand).
2. Savannakhet, Savannakhet (Laos) – Mukdahan, Mukdahan (Thailand)
3. Vangtao, Champassack (Laos) – Xongmek, Oubon (Thailand)
4. Namphaou, Borikhamxay (Laos) – Cautreo, Hating (Vietnam)
5. Densavanh, Savannakhet (Laos) – Laobao, Khuangchi (Vietnam)
6. Namphao, Khammouan (Laos) – Chalo, Khuangbing (Vietnam)
7. Boten, Luang Namtha (Laos) – Bohane, Yunan (China)

The Consular Department is also considering to issue visas on the arrival at the Nam Kane International Check Point, Xiengkhuang province.

Visa on arrival can be facilitated only for foreigners, who urgently go for an official business, or have an emergency case.
 

GOVERNMENT REJECTS RADIO FREE ASIA BROADCAST 

Labor and Social Welfare officials on November 20, 2002 denied the claims made in a news broadcast by Radio Free Asia.

On November 13, the station claimed that 30,000 Vietnamese veterans had handed a request to the Lao Government asking for pensions.

The broadcast claimed that the veterans were former Vietnamese volunteers and military experts who used to work for the Lao People's Democratic Republic. It said, the request had been sent to the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare.

The Director General of the Pensioner Policy Generation Department at the Ministry strongly denied the validity of the station's broadcast. He said he could not believe that Radio Free Asia could fabricate news without any factual basis at all.

“The news broadcast through the radio was totally fabricated news," confirmed the director. He added that Radio Free Asia has a history of fabricating sensational news articles about Laos.

"I don't know whether the reporters at Radio Free Asia hold any ethics," stressed the director.

"Laos is one country and Vietnam is another country. It is impossible for Vietnamese people to ask for pensions from the Lao Government."

The official said that the ministry did not receive any requests from Vietnamese for pensions, as claimed by Radio Free Asia broadcast.