Vientiane (Vientiane Times) - The Lao government highly valued the assistance of the Norwegian government and people to the development of Laos, especially in the clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) which was a serious obstacle to the country’s development.
High-ranking officials from the Lao government made the assessment upon receiving the Norwegian Minister of International Development, Dag-Inge Ulstein, who officially visited Laos on Friday.
In receiving Minister Ulstein and his delegation on a courtesy visit to the Prime Minister’s Office on the same day, PM Thongloun Sisoulith conveyed his thanks to the Norwegian government and people for their support offered to Laos asking for the European nation to continue assisting the country, particularly in UXO clearance, pointing to the legacies of war which continued to threaten people’s livelihoods.
Prime Minister Thongloun asked for more Norwegian investors and people to visit and invest in Laos and help the country in human resource development in various fields.
In his talks with Norwegian Minister of International Development, Dag-Inge Ulstein at a working lunch on the same day, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Saleumxay Kommasith highly valued the cooperation between Laos and Norway in both bilateral and multilateral frameworks.
Laos and Norway have implemented bilateral cooperation programmes under the Vientiane Declaration, especially support for capacity building and Laos’ efforts in targeting the Millennium Development Goals and graduation from the list of Least Developed Countries by 2024.
To date, assistance from the Norwegian government and people to Laos has involved the fields of hydropower, law, education, basic health, natural resources and environmental management, human resource development and public support, especially in UXO clearance.
Norway’s assistance to Laos was US$26 million for the years 2008-2013. The European country offered US$1.4 million as international humanitarian aid for UXO clearance from 2014-2016, and US$400,000 for UXO clearance in Luang Prabang and Xieng Kuang provinces from 2018-2020.
As a Sectoral Dialogue Partner of Asean, Norway has actively participated in strengthening the cooperation ties with Asean, with trade volume between Asean and the European country US$4.1 billion in 2016. Norway’s investment in Asean countries was valued at US$25.5 million while Asean exports to Norway reached US$2 billion.
During his courtesy visit to Prime Minister Thongloun, Minister Dag-Inge Ulstein conveyed the importance of the support for the establishment of the Oslo Convention on Cluster Munitions in 2008 and agreed to continue assisting Laos in UXO clearance in the future. At the meeting between Mr Saleumxay and the Norwegian minister, the two sides also discussed humanitarian aid as well as international issues of shared interest.
During the visit to Laos, Minister Dag-Inge Ulstein and his delegation also visited the Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise to discuss UXO clearance and the necessary assistance for Norway’s supporting projects and Norwegian People’s Aid in Vientiane.
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