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EU, Laos boost cooperative ties

The European Union wishes to strengthen cooperation with Laos, especially in areas of climate change, human rights, legal issues and immigration.
The European Union wishes to strengthen cooperation with Laos,especially in areas of climate change, human rights, legal issues andimmigration.

David Lipman, Head of Delegation ofthe European Union in Laos made this statement at a briefing on May 3in Laos, on the occasion of the 62 nd anniversary of Europe Day.

Through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), the EU and Laos joinefforts to build a close relationship in both bilateral and regionalterms.

EU-Laos relations have now developed intopolitical counterpart relations and now the EU is a key donor of Laos,with 15 million EUR in developmental aid disbursed each year, excludingthe significant assistance from each EU member country to Laos in thefields of education, health care, rural development in highland areas,food security, State management, trade, small enterprise development andemergency aid.

The EU has committed to provide theLao government with a total of 37.5 million EUR this year. It will alsofund rural development programmes in Laos, with 6 million EUR in 2013,as part of its assistance to Laos in achieving its target of getting outof the under-developed nations list by 2020.-VNA
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