MAG hosted a high profile delegation from the Lao People’s Democratic Republic on 8 May, led by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith.
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Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Dr. Thongloun Sisoulith discusses unexploded ordnance contamination in Lao PDR at MAG's headquarters. |
Lao PDR is the world’s most heavily bombed country per capita, with at least two million tonnes of ordnance dropped on its eastern border during the US–Vietnam War. Nearly a third of these bombs did not detonate.
The delegation was welcomed in MAG's Manchester headquarters by MAG’s Chief Executive Lou McGrath OBE, who said:
“We have been working in Lao since 1994. Since then, and in close cooperation with the Lao government, we’ve cleared millions of square metres of land and tens of thousands of items of unexploded ordnance, enabling the people of Laos to work their land; dig water wells; build schools and construct roads and bridges.”
After a business breakfast, Dr Thongloun Sisoulith and his colleague the Director General of the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr Saleumxay Kommasith, visited Old Trafford football ground.
They returned to MAG HQ, where they unveiled a mural of female deminers working in Laos. Of MAG’s 210 Laotian employees, 35 per cent are women.
At the unveiling His Excellency said: “I’m honoured to be here in Manchester today, and to be unveiling this picture in MAG’s new office.
“I am very pleased with all the work MAG does in Laos. I look forward to co-operating with MAG in the future and continuing the work you do because it saves many lives and helps our people’s development.
“I hope MAG will keep up its work clearing bombs from Laos, and saving people from the remnants of war.”
After the ceremony, the delegation visited Manchester Town Hall, meeting Deputy Leader Cllr Val Stevens, amongst others.
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8 May 09
MAG's work in Lao PDR is supported by: AusAID; DFID (UK
Department for International Development); European Commission; The Humpty Dumpty
Institute; Irish Aid; Jersey Overseas Aid; USDA (United States Department of Agriculture); US Department of State.
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