The European Union's development assistance to Least Developed Countries (LDCs) including Laos will not be reduced in spite of the ongoing debt crisis in Europe.
Speaking to Lao media in Vientiane last week, the new Chargé d'Affaires of the Delegation of the European Union to Laos Michel Goffin said that although the EU's budget would be cut in some areas, development assistance to LDCs will be maintained.
"Certainly, aid to the LDCs will be preserved from any reduction," he said, saying that the eurozone crisis will not impact on development assistance to LDCs, but it was unclear whether aid would increase because it was too early to say.
Under the European Union's aid reforms, which come into force in 2014, emerging economies like China, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand will lose funding under the new EU policy, as they are no longer seen to be in need.
The shift is designed to concentrate EU aid on the world's poorest countries where EU funds can make a tangible difference, rather than spending it in places of rapid economic growth.
According to a Financial Times report recently, between 2014 and 2020 Brussels will have an aid budget of about 10 billion euros a year, up by 20 percent on current amounts. This excludes the overseas aid administrated directly by member states of the EU.
The EU is a major donor to Laos with bilateral aid of about 12 million euros a year in support of socio-economic development. Laos has set a goal to graduate from LDC status by 2020, and the EU has expressed its support for Laos' intentions and efforts to accomplish the goal.
Goffin arrived in Vientiane earlier this month to take up his assignment. He is part of the new European Diplomatic Service that was created in 2011 to implement European Foreign Policy.
He originally worked for the Belgian Foreign Affairs service and was previously posted as Ambassador to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has been serving as a Belgian diplomat at the Mission to the UN in New York, Jakarta, Canberra and Baghdad.
One of the most important tasks that Goffin will focus on during his term in Laos is to improve the management of forests, which he says have fantastic potential in many ways.
He said it is important to improve forest management in order to preserve biodiversity in the country. In 2013, a law will come into effect that prohibits tropical wood entering EU markets.
Goffin said the EU wants Laos to be able to stick to the EU export rule to ensure Laos exports only legally logged timber. For that to happen, the EU will soon launch negotiations for a partnership on the issue.
