VIENTIANE, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Lao government and its development partners have pledged to intensify cooperation to meet development targets, during a two-day National Conference on Population and Development that took place in Lao capital Vientiane.
At the conference, which ended on Tuesday, the government and development partners reached a landmark consensus on accelerating implementation of the ninth National Socio-Economic Development Plan (NSEDP) for 2021-2025 and the National Population and Development Policy for 2019-2030, Lao national TV reported on Friday.
This will be achieved by empowering adolescents and youth, investing in sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence response programs, as well as data for development, according to the report.
The conference brought together government institutions, civil society, private sector and development partners to strategize around key population and development issues and agree on sustainable solutions.
Addressing the conference, Lao Deputy Prime Minister Kikeo Khaykhamphithoune said that since the adoption of the International Conference on Population and Development Program of Action in 1994, Laos has made significant progress.
This includes a decline in the proportion of the population living below the poverty line from 48 percent in 1990 to 18.3 percent in 2018-2019, and a decline in the maternal mortality ratio from 530 per 100,000 live births in 2000 to 126 per 100,000 live births in 2020. In addition, 69 percent of births are attended by trained personnel and primary school enrolment has reached 89.6 percent.
The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Laos Bakhodir Burkhanov said, "As Laos is expected to graduate from 'least developed country' status by 2026, it requires a combination of meaningful policies and their steadfast implementation, backed by the continued collective support of all development partners, in order to rise to the promise of the Sustainable Development Goals." ■
