PM urges international donors to help Laos realise development plans

(KPL) Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh said at the Roundtable Meeting held yesterday in Vientiane that it was necessary for the Lao government to receive support and assistance from the international development partners to achieve the socio-economic development plan for the next five years.

High-ranking officials of the Lao government met international development partners at the 10th High Level Roundtable Meeting to learn the five-year socio-economic development plan for 2011-2015 of the Lao government along with its detailed mechanisms of fulfilling the Millennium Development Goals, unexploded ordnance resolution and the world issues of sustainable equitable development.

The meeting provides an opportunity to international development partners to share points of view on the socio-economic development plan of the government over the next five years, suggest implementation approach for the development projects in Laos, and assert their commitment to supporting and assisting the Lao government and the Lao people in fulfilling the development goals of the country.

In his opening speech, Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh highlighted the achievements made over the last five years and the support and assistance from international community to the Lao PDR.

�Many targets of socio-economic development have been achieved over the last five years,� said Mr. Bouasone. �The average economic growth rate stands at over 7 per cent, the macro economy is basically stable, poverty has been reduced from 33.5 per cent in 2005 to 26 per cent this year and the country seems able to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in areas of health, education and human resources; governance reform and the socio-economic management has seen a more active change and the ownership rights of the Lao people has been promoted.�

�Despite such achievements, the Lao PDR has not yet shaken itself off the least developed country status, poverty accounts 26 per cent of the entire population and most of them get less than two US dollars per day.

Meanwhile, child and mother mortality rate, malnutrition, and social insurance system need further improvement. The economic growth relies mainly on the exploitation and export of natural resources and not on the diverse valued-added production of commodity and services,� said the Prime Minister.

He informed the participants of the targets of developments of the Lao government over the next five years which aim at achieving an annual economic growth rate of 8 per cent, stabilising macro economy, ensuring the development projects implemented on a sustainable manner, enhancing rural development and reducing the poverty to 15 per cent, hence achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, furthering public administration reform and ensuring the strengthening of institution and human resources as well as the integration into ASEAN and international communities.

Mr. Bouasone assured the international development partners that the Lao government would implement more practical policy on promoting the participation of both domestic and foreign business communities as well as the society to participate in the materialisation of the development targets of the country over the next five years.

Yesterday�s event also saw the signing of Millennium Development Goal Compact (MDG Compact), stipulating the commitment by the Lao government and its international development partners to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. These include the MDG 9 on the reduction of unexploded ordnance menace and the removal of UXO from farmland by 2020.