2016 set to be the ‘Year of Laos’
The year of 2016 will be the “Year of Laos” as the country takes the ASEAN chairmanship, US President Barack Obama visits the nation and the ruling party holds its 10th congress to select a new leadership.
Obama’s decision to visit Laos next year to attend the ASEAN Summit held in Vientiane would “make history” as the first US president to visit that country in six decades since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1955.
White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said there is an emerging partnership on development between the two countries, with focus on such areas as health, nutrition and basic education and that “the US is increasingly a real partner to the Lao government”.
