31st January 2014 Vientiane, Laos
January 2014 Monthly Snapshot
January 2014
Look what we have been busy with at the Embassy this month!
Happy New Year!
The British Embassy Vientiane launched into the New Year with an ambitious agenda as an already established and settled diplomatic mission, full of plans for high-level work in 2014.
LGBT rights success!
Anan Bouapha, UK in Laos on Facebook follower was nominated for an Asia Pink Award 2014 for his role in organising Proud to be Us – Laos’ annual celebration of LGBT rights and diversity in all its forms.
http://www.elementmag.asia/asiapinkawardsnominees/
First memorandum of understanding signed between a UK and a Lao University
The National University of Laos and the University of Wolverhampton’s Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT) signed an agreement on sustainable forestry management, which will lead to Wolverhampton University delivering its practical forestry management training in Laos. This marks the next step in a partnership between the two universities in the forestry field, which has developed over the last few years.
Vientianale On the Road in Huaphan province
The British Embassy is one of the sponsors of the Vientianale On the Road project, which gives young people in remote areas of Laos access to a new form of entertainment in films and exposure to the outside world.
Preparations for our 3rd Visa Service in Vientiane are in full swing. This periodic service will be held on 6-7 Feb 2014, meaning that applicants will not have to travel to Bangkok anymore to obtain a visa to the UK.
British Residence handover
A little bit of history was made in January as the British government took back responsibility for the British residence in Vientiane, which had been leased to the Australian government for almost 30 years. This marks another significant step in the re-establishment of the British diplomatic presence in Laos.
Deputy Head of Mission of the Australian Embassy in Vientiane, Lou Kalogiannidis and Alex Needham, Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy in Vientiane confirmed the handover.
Combating Illegal Wildlife Trade
The UK is preparing to host the biggest ever global conference on the Illegal Wildlife Trade in London in February. The British Embassy is supporting this effort with an NGO and government event, supporting Lao politicians to join the conference and a social media campaign.
Embassy staff weekend picnic
To round off a week loaded with high-level work, we relaxed with a picnic at a fish pond owned by one of our staff members. Freshly caught fish, yum!
Dear Philip , it ´s just great to read, in how much activities your British Embassy in Laos is involved on a very POSITIVE WAY. To be honest : It ´s hard to vote of what the most important topic is.
So my friend and me have been just made our own “Chart – Hitlist ” like former BBC ´s “Top of the Pop. The only different thing was, that we prefered quality instead of quantity.
So here are our “TOP 3 “. # 3 :
Cause I ´m gay.So I know that gay and life is for “us” not so easy.
In fact, if you want only a litle bit of fun at , e.g., the CSD (christopher street day in 1969) you don´t bette r move alone back to yr. flat.
It ´s always the same and can happen everytime , everwhere (e.g.London,
Madrid or Hamburg).
# 2 :Combating illegal wildlife trade .
Cause if we are not able to stop this madness of any kind of “Wildlife – Trade”, we will destroy ourselves – sooner or later – too. Because if we are destroy animals TODAY – we will destry our natural environment TOMORROW.
#1,the “Chart-Topper”, is without any doubt the signed “Memorandum of Understanding between Laos and Great Britain. Or better : the Universities
of Laos in Vientiane and the UK-One in Wolverhampton. Well, this signed documents are only a smallstep into the right diection. But : It looks to me , that they are already working very hardly for step 2 , forestry management in close co-operation between thei universities in Laos and United Kingdom.
Best wishes & take care , liebe Grüßle aus Stuttgart,
Ingo-Steven Wais