2016 set to be the ‘Year of Laos’

Obama’s decision to visit Laos next year to attend the Asean Summit held in Vientiane would “make history” as the first US president to visit that country in six decades since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1955.
White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said there is an emerging partnership on development between the two countries, with focus on such areas as health, nutrition and basic education and that “the US is increasingly a real partner to the Lao government”.
Laos has attracted international attention and interest, said a Vietnam News Agency report.
“It is clear that a small and poor Laos devastated by war and a trade embargo decades ago – a country which rarely features in international media – has been replaced by a dynamic, renovating and highly valued Laos with increasing regional and international integration,” it said.
“In other words, Laos’s new position after 40 years of development since the historic victory of the national and people’s democratic revolution in December 1975 has changed the international views towards this small nation,” it said.
As reported by the Vientiane Times, speaking on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic National Day held at the Presidential Office on December 1, 2015, Malaysian Ambassador to Laos Than Tai Hing, as the dean of the diplomatic corps in Vientiane, congratulated Lao leaders and people for “achieving “significant” progress in the task of building the nation over the past four decades, noting that Laos has achieved high-level economic growth of more than 7 per cent in recent years, with the remarkable achievement of being able to maintain political stability, peace and harmony among the different ethnic groups”.
The Malaysian diplomat emphasised that “this is only possible owing to the wise, forward looking and far-sighted policy” of the leadership of the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party headed by secretary general and President Choummaly Sayasone and the government under Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong.

 “Legitimate rights, freedoms”
Following this, “all of its citizens can enjoy legitimate rights and freedom to actively participate in national development and to share in the growth benefits and create opportunities for them to achieve greater economic security and progress”, he said.
Every year, Laos, a small nation with only about 7 million people, on average receives approximately 3 million foreign tourists.
Laos’s natural, cultural, historic and humanitarian values have become a “magnet” for not only foreign tourists but also investors.
However, the most important factor is its government policies, the state-run Vietnam News Agency noted.
In the opening speech of a scientific conference with the theme of “Laos’s readiness for international economic integration” held in Vientiane on November 28, Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said the government promotes and adjusts integration policies to help all elements of society, especially Lao enterprises, learn about the country’s potential, opportunities and challenges to turn advantages into power, and simultaneously strengthen the efforts to address their weaknesses for better regional and international integration.
In 2016, Laos will continue to witness a flurry of significant international events. From  mid-to-end 2016, there will be a series of summits and ministerial conferences among Asean members and between Asean and its partners, including the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) and the East Asia Summit (EAS), which Laos has the honour to host as it assumes Asean chairmanship in the first year of the Asean Community.
The Asean Summit and other summits between Asean and its partners as well as the ARF and EAS in Vientiane will be important international forums, with the participation of numerous state and government leaders. They are believed to be “very animated” to the point of being
heated, but certainly successful under the host’s flexible but principled chairmanship.