Govt, development partners step up cooperation in population, development 

The government and its development partners have pledged to intensify cooperation to meet development targets, during a two-day National Conference on Population and Development that took place in Vientiane.

Professor Dr Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune.

At the conference, which ended on Tuesday, the government and development partners reached a landmark consensus on accelerating implementation of the 9th National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) for 2021-2025 and the National Population and Development Policy for 2019-2030.
This will be achieved by empowering adolescents and youth, investing in sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence response programmes, as well data for development, according to a press release from the conference.  
The conference has come with 16 consensus-based recommendations for accelerating the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which will also inform a national statement at the 7th Asia and Pacific Population Conference scheduled to take place on November 15-17.
The conference brought together government institutions, civil society, private sector and development partners to strategise around key population and development issues and agree on sustainable solutions.
Addressing the conference, Deputy Prime Minister Professor Dr Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune said that since the adoption of the International Conference on Population and Development Programme of Action in 1994, Laos has made significant progress.
This includes a decline in the proportion of the population living below the poverty line from 48 percent in 1990 to 18.3 percent in 2018-2019, and a decline in the maternal mortality ratio from 530 per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 126 per 100,000 live births in 2020.
In addition, 69 percent of births are attended by trained personnel and primary school enrolment has reached 89.6 percent.
Ambassadors of the European Union, Germany, Luxembourg and Turkey as well as representatives of the US Agency for International Development and the Embassies of Australia, India and Canada reaffirmed their governments’ commitment to advancing gender equity and equality, adolescent and youth empowerment, sexual and reproductive health and rights, data for development, and the principle of leaving no one behind.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Laos Bakhodir Burkhanov said “As Laos is expected to graduate from “least developed country” status by 2026, it requires a combination of meaningful policies and their steadfast implementation, backed by the continued collective support of all development partners, in order to rise to the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
UNFPA Representative, Dr Bakhtyior Kadyrov, said that with 60 percent of the population being under the age of 30, young people are not only the future, but they are also the present.
“We will support our government partners in their efforts to promote young people’s empowerment and leadership. This is in line with the common Lao saying: “Young people are the backbone of the nation”,” Dr Kadyrov said.
Professor Dr Kikeo called for actions in response to five key priorities.
These include leveraging the demographic dividend; developing a preparedness and response plan to respond to the effects of climate change; and accelerating efforts to improve people’s health and well-being.

By Times Reporters
 (Latest Update October 27, 2023)