Lao PDR

UNDP News

31 May 2007

Landmark forum launches Vientiane Declaration aid plan into action

The Lao Government and the development community have taken Laos one step closer to exiting Least Developed Country status by endorsing a plan that will revolutionize how aid is delivered.

Leaders from the Lao Government and development community met today to formalize a country action plan to implement the Vientiane Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which was signed in November last year.

With foreign aid accounting for more than two thirds of public investment in sectors like health, education, agriculture and transport, delivering aid effectively and efficiently is vitally important to development success and the future of Lao PDR.

The Vientiane Declaration can achieve this by strengthening government ownership of development; aligning donors to national policies and increasing their use of national institution; making donors' actions more harmonized, transparent and simple; managing results; and improving accountablility.

Mr Hiem Phommachanh, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, urged those at today's Third High Level Forum to Endorse the Vientiane Declaration on Aid Effectiveness to keep up the momentum.

“It is now necessary for us to move forward in collectively implementing this Action Plan with the same momentum with which it was developed,” Mr Phommachanh told the forum.

“It is important for us to note that the implementation of the Country Action Plan is the mutual responsibility of all the signatories – both the Government of the Lao PDR and our Partners in Development.”

Today's meeting was the last of three high level forum bringing to a close a highly participatory process that began when the Declaration was signed last year at the Ninth Round Table Meeting by the Government and 22 donors and involved a series of meetings at the highest level.

Ms Sonam Yangchen Rana, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative, thanked them for their dedication and congratulated everyone involved for their success.

“A lot of hard work has gone into preparing this Country Action Plan by the Secretariat and the Taskforce and I would like to express my appreciation to all those involved,” Ms Sonam told the forum.

“I truly believe that we have a high quality plan before us which most agencies and organizations in this room have substantially contributed to.

“I look forward to the continued momentum and good cooperation between the Government of Laos and the development community during implementation.”

There are three key aspects to the country plan:

First is a more coordinated approach to programming in the key sectors of the National Socio-Economic Development Plan as well as strengthened use of national systems.

The second is more donors using common procedures and harmonizing activities such as reporting and evaluating procedures.

Thirdly, there is making official development assistance more transparent, predictable and better integrated into national and sectoral plans and budgets.