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Headlines:
Anniversaries as Shared Pride
Party Officials Compare Notes on Control
Migration Rules Get Reality Check
Floods Test Warning Systems
Cross-Border Water Plans
Korea Gets Roselle, Laos Gets Cash
EDL Promises Better Days Ahead
Data Standards Meet Development Reality
Foreign Minister's Diplomatic Marathon
Anniversaries as Shared Pride
Vietnam's 80th National Day celebrations have Lao leaders celebrating a shared revolutionary heritage, though the numbers tell a more complicated story. While both countries started from similar positions, Vietnam's per capita income has grown from $440 in 2000 to more than $4,000 today, leaving its socialist sibling playing catch-up. The partnerships continue regardless, for example with some 16,000 Lao students currently studying in Vietnam. Ceremonies in Champasak and a new book celebrating 50 years of parliamentary cooperation are keeping the diplomatic machinery well-oiled.
Read more: VOV (interview), VietnamPlus (economy/investment), Nhan Dan (book project), VietnamPlus (ceremony), VietnamPlus (ceremony), Nhan Dan (remarks)
Party Officials Compare Notes on Control
Senior party organizers from Vietnam and Laos met in Vientiane to swap strategies on party building in advance of their respective national congresses. The discussions were wide-ranging, covering topics including membership development, supporting grassroots organizations, personnel management, streamlining portfolios, equitization, and the delicate art of divestment without losing control. Notes on maintaining single-party rule, mostly, it seems. Provincial-level meetings are planned next, suggesting both parties see value in swapping tactics for staying in power while keeping the economic dream alive.
Read more: VOV (party building), The Star (SOE meeting), VietNamNet (reform details)
Migration Rules Get Reality Check
Lao officials are updating laws and programs for safer labor migration, especially for women and the young looking for work in Thailand and beyond. A review of the PROMISE project covered skills training and self-employment alternatives, and a new ILO-Canada project is working on reducing workplace discrimination and child labor. The need for change is clear: a 2022 survey found 172,422 child laborers in Laos, including 65,693 in hazardous work. Current protections seem to be more theoretical than practical.
Read more: The Star (PROMISE review), Mirage News (ILO project)
Floods Test Warning Systems
Tropical Depression LingLing has authorities issuing flood alerts in multiple provinces, even as agencies continue to tally up the damage from July's floods linked to Typhoon Wipha. Khammouane's Hinboun district alone reports over 335 affected families and 1.2 billion kip in losses from submerged homes and destroyed crops. With Mekong levels approaching danger marks, the annual question returns: are improved warning systems actually helping the villages that need them most?
Read more: Laotian Times (alerts), ReliefWeb (impact/response)
Cross-Border Water Plans
Water agencies from Laos and Vietnam met with IUCN and FAO to push joint management of the Ma and Ca river basins, reviewing data sharing and planning through mid-2026. Bolikhamxay's Khamkeut district is expanding piped water networks to reach 24,000 people by 2040, hoping to reduce the hours women and children spend collecting water. It may surprise some readers to know that basic water access is a development priority in Laos, a quarter of the way into the 21st century.
Read more: IUCN (basin plan), The Star (local project)
Korea Gets Roselle, Laos Gets Cash
The Lao Agricultural Business Association signed a 16.2 billion kip deal to export 120 tons of roselle to Korea, part of a push to ship 210 tonnes of crops, including sesame and onions. Integrated farming operations in Luang Prabang are reporting higher incomes by matching production to restaurant demand. It’s a modest success story in agricultural exports, though whether it can scale beyond niche crops remains to be seen.
Read more: Laotian Times (export deal), Bernama (trade target), Laotian Times (farm model)
EDL Promises Better Days Ahead
Electricite du Laos (EDL) says it’s going to roll out reforms in the second half of 2025 to improve reliability and increase revenue through power trading, though relieving the country of the chronic outages might need maintenance cash that doesn’t exist. Management changes and tariff adjustments are on the table for cost recovery. B.Grimm is pushing faster grid interconnection to move Malaysian solar and Lao hydro across borders, betting that technical integration can overcome political hesitation about energy dependence.
Read more: Suryaa (EDL plan), Bernama (ASEAN grid), Laotian Times (LMC energy)
Data Standards Meet Development Reality
The Lao Statistics Bureau's 2025 guidelines will standardize gender, disability, and social inclusion metrics across government systems, building on surveys that show there are sizeable gaps in the current data. In Xonnabouly, the Education Ministry and World Vision launched an $840,000 program in 10 schools for 6,380 people, to support early reading and disability access. Whether better data leads to better outcomes will depend on the ability of the Bureau to properly put what it collects to good use.
Read more: Development Asia (policy/data), Laotian Times (school program)
Foreign Minister's Diplomatic Marathon
Foreign Minister Thongsavanh Phomvihane toured Mongolia for FEALAC talks on trade and logistics before heading to Manila to celebrate 70 years of Philippine ties. A co-operation memo was issued that covers clean energy, agriculture, trade, and security, with a prime ministerial visit under discussion. The diplomatic push comes as Laos continues to recognize its need to diversify partnerships beyond immediate neighbors, but concrete outcomes from these far-flung trips typically prove elusive.
Read more: AKIpress (Mongolia visit), The Star (Philippines ties)
That’s all for this week, thanks for reading.
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