It’s been a busy few months and a while since my last blog posting. So I wanted to give an overview of the key recent events at the Embassy and a look ahead.
In May, I travelled back to the UK to attend the Leadership Conference; an annual event hosted in London and attended by UK Ambassadors from every corner of the globe. During the weeklong event, we heard from several prominent members of the UK government, as well as HRH The Prince of Wales and US Secretary of State John Kerry who was in London for a meeting on Syria. The event also saw the launch of the UK Foreign Office’s Diplomatic Academy: a centre of excellence to help create the best diplomatic service in the world. It was a particularly important meeting as it was the last Leadership Conference before the next UK general election in May 2015.
During my visit, I also took the opportunity to brief the UK ASEAN Business Council on business opportunities in Laos.
In June, we celebrated the Queen’s Official Birthday with a party hosted at my newly reclaimed Ambassador’s residence. Under fluttering Union flag bunting, some 400 guests attended, enjoying a whole host of activities and exhibitions. Guests of honour included the Minister for Planning and Investment Mr Somdy Douangdy, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Mme Sounthone Xayachack and the new Lao Ambassador to the UK Sayakane Sisouvong. From the culinary delights of Great Britain to FIFA Brazil World Cup themed penalty shootouts, there was something for everyone.
We also held a reception in Vientiane to mark the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict which took place in London from 10 – 13 June. The Global Summit was a joint initiative hosted by the UK’s former Foreign Secretary William Hague and Angelina Jolie, UN Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and renowned Hollywood actress-film director.
Bringing together the largest gathering ever to discuss the subject, the Summit aimed to create irreversible momentum against the use of sexual violence in war and to deliver practical action to impact those on the ground. The event concluded with the signature of a Statement of Action and agreement to a range of legal, humanitarian and security sector reforms which will play a critical role in ending the culture of impunity for sexual violence in conflict. I am hopeful that the Lao government will also sign up to this initiative soon. June saw the arrival in London of the new Lao Ambassador to the UK, Sayakane Sisouvong. The Lao embassy in London is set to open officially later this year after a diplomatic absence of nearly 30 years but Ambassador Sayakane is already active on the London diplomatic scene. You can see a picture here of him meeting the UK Foreign Office Minister of State, the Rt Hon Hugo Swire.
Football was the name of the game in July, as I attended the Lao Premier League Fan Club Association end of season match held at the New Arena in Vientiane. Although a Spurs fan myself, it was a great pleasure to present the League Cup to the winners, the Newcastle United Lao Fan Club team.
We continued our work to develop our foreign policy links with Laos during August with a number of exchanges with government Ministers and officials. I was also pleased to host an exploratory visit by the UK’s Defence Attaché at the British Embassy in Hanoi to look at some possible defence links. I hope this will become an interesting new area of work for us in future. Looking forward, we have a busy run-up to the end of the year with a visit by our Trade Envoy, Lord David Puttnam, in October and a number of workshops on issues such as illegal wildlife trafficking and anti-money-laundering. I will give a lecture on UK policy at the Lao Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Foreign Affairs and will travel to Bangkok in November to do some more outreach with UK companies interested in doing business in Laos. On more practical issues, we have the next visa and passport application services on 25 September, 16 October, 20 November, 10 December and then in 2015 on 14 January, 12 February and 19 March. So make sure you book an appointment through our website if you wish to use either of these services.