It has been a few weeks since my last blog so time for an update on our progress in re-establishing our Embassy in Vientiane and on what we have been doing more broadly. As for our Embassy set-up, I think it important to highlight that, while we had the formal opening of the Embassy by our Foreign Secretary, William Hague, on 5 November, we still have a lot of work to do to complete this important project. We have set ourselves a deadline of end March 2013 to have everything in place everything in place.
Currently, we are working on two key priorities. Firstly, renovation works at our new Embassy building (the former Australian Embassy building on Rue Nerhu) which involves a tender process for the works, overseen by our Regional Technical Works Office at the British High Commission in Singapore. Our aim is to have completed this process and for building works to start early in January with completion in March. For the time being, we continue to operate out of temporary offices. Our second key priority is recruitment of six locally engaged staff to help deliver our objectives in Laos. We advertised for these positions during November and are currently sifting the applications (over 100) to shortlist those we wish to interview in early January. We aim to appoint staff by the beginning of February. This will give an important boost to our capabilities though the new staff will go through some induction and training in the initial stages. But we will have our team in place and in good shape by the end of March. Aside from these key priorities, we have also been working on other important aspects of our set-up such as security for our staff and assets, medical arrangements and other Embassy processes. More broadly, we have started to build up the traditional front-line work of the Embassy. Since presenting my credentials to the President in October, I have undertaken a number of introductory calls on Ministers of the Lao government, including the Prime Minister. We have taken part in a number of events and meetings relating to development priorities in Laos, the environment and human rights. We are also developing our links to the British business community in Laos with the goal of establishing a British Business Group in due course which will serve as a forum to share ideas and experiences in doing business in Laos. Our aim is to increase the UK’s business profile here over the next couple of years. These are all important first steps in establishing contacts and networks as well as for developing areas of work to pursue in the coming months and years. It may all seem pretty obvious. But having been out of Laos for nearly 30 years, we need to re-engage with our stakeholders and, crucially, to develop a clear focus on delivery of the British government’s strategic objectives in Laos and the broader region.