EU continues support for basic education in Laos

The European Union (EU) will continue to add more than 135 billion kip (14 million euros) for the ‘Basic Education Support Programme in Laos’ to help the nation achieve its education development plans.
This was the message delivered during a visit to the Ministry of Education and Sports by a delegation from EU led by Director for Asia, Central Asia, Middle East/Gulf and Pacific, Mr Pierre Amilhat.
The meeting between Laos and the EU is to reaffirm their partnership to support education development in Laos.

The partnership is to assist Laos by focusing on boosting and monitoring poor schools, teacher allocation, and improving the teaching skills of teachers to ensure students meet educational achievements.
The EU’s assistance will allocate funding for district education level and schools while building capacity in school management to improve educational standards in Laos.
As well as the assistance, the programme will improve education development in rural areas while building capacity in personal development among the target schools.
The meeting also reported cooperation between the Lao government and the EU in various fields. The EU programme in Laos focuses on nutrition, education, and governance, UXO clearance, gender equality and climate change.
The EU recently provided 55 million euros to launch two new programmes on nutrition and sustainable growth, with the financial contribution reaffirming the EU’s commitment to remain a reliable and long-term partner for Laos.
Some 50 million euros will go to improve nutrition and reduce malnutrition in Laos, and 5 million euros to help spur growth in trade and investment through the Asean Regional Integration Support Laos Trade Related Assistance (ARISE Plus Laos) initiative.
The objective is to promote inclusive economic growth and increase climate change resilience, mitigation of vulnerability, especially due to dependence on a limited number of sectors and markets, job creation in Laos, as well as improving the business environment in targeted areas with a focus on regional economic integration (Asean) and to increase trade and participation in global value chains in targeted sectors.
According to the EU, the current programme for Laos covers five years and is synchronised with the Laos National Socio-Economic Development Strategy for 2016-2020.
In addition, it allocates 162 million euro in many sectors, including nutrition, education and governance under the framework of the European Joint Programming 2016-2020. The EU has supported Laos in its efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and will continue to assist in the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Agenda 2030.

By Keoviengkhone Bounviseth
(Latest Update September 17, 2019)