Check Against Delivery
STATEMENT
by
H.E. Ambassador Alounkeo Kittikhoun
Permanent Representative
of the Lao PDR to the United Nations
Head of the Lao PDR Delegation
at the High-level Segment
of the 12th Session of the United Nations
Commission on Sustainable Development
New York, 28 April 2004
Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is my privilege to speak on behalf of the Lao PDR delegation before this
important High- level Meeting. Allow me to take this opportunity to convey our
delegation?s warmest congratulations to you and other members of the Bureau on your
respective election. We rest assured that under your guidance, our deliberations will be
made a success.
Mr. Chairman,
Loyal to its policy of linking socio-economic development with environment
protection, the Lao PDR Government has spared no effort in implementing its relevant
international commitments, particularly the MDGs and Agenda 21. In light of these, a
National Poverty Eradication Strategy (NPEP) which includes as its main elements,
among others, the three cross-cutting issues discussed by the current CSD session, has
been adopted. This provides a comprehensive policy platform for coordinating all the
national, sub-regional, regional and international efforts to address these daunting issues,
specially water and sanitation.
Mr. Chairman,
2
Attaching great importance to the management of water and water resources, the
Lao PDR government introduced a law on water and water resources in 1996.
Subsequently, in 1998 the Water Resource Coordination Centre (WRCC) was established
with a mandate to coordinate the activities of the line ministries and agencies in the water
sector management. In 2001, a Prime Minister?s Decree was issued to implement the law.
In enforcing the law, a public awareness campaign has been carried out through mass
media such as a documentary film on ?Water Value?, drawing contests and various
publications.
Water supply and environmental health activities are vital for controlling disease
outbreaks, particularly epidemics of diarrhoeal diseases. Consequently, our government
has put in place a number of projects to improve water supply and environmental health
across the country. A nationwide hygiene campaign called ?three cleans?, i.e. clean
water, living environment and food, has also been carried out constantly. As a result, the
proportion of the population with sustainable access to an improved water source has
increased from 28 per cent in 1990 to 58.1 per cent in 2002 and that with access to
improved sanitation increased from 11 per cent to 41.6 per cent for the same period, thus
contributing to a significant drop in maternal, infant and under five mortality rates
between 1995 and 2000.
Mr. Chairman,
Notwithstanding the foregoing progress, only about 55% of the Lao population
has access to piped or protected well water and less than 40% of the households has
sanitary latrines, and less than 10% of the primary schools has proper latrines. These
conditions have resulted in outbreaks of diarrhoeal diseases in several areas. The number
of patients and deaths remains high.
To address the problems, our government plans to expand the clean water supply
and environmental health programme. Its main objective is to increase for 2003-2005, the
access to clean water to 65-70% of the population, improve their use of hygienic latrines
to 45-50 % and equip, at least, 20% of the primary schools with sanitary latrines.
Mr. Chairman,
As least developed and landlocked developing country, the Lao PDR still finds it
difficult to cope with the efforts towards meeting the internationally agreed targets. This
is basically due to its financial and human resource constraints. More remains to be done
to reach both the MDGs and JPOI targets. With a projected 6 per cent increase in the
government?s budget spending on the social sector for 2003-2006, it appears yet to be far
from adequate. So, we earnestly appeal to the international community for increased
partnership and support in our endeavours to pursue socio-economic development
programmes aimed at achieving the goals and targets.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
