(KPL) Eight volunteers of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) are bidding farewells to Laos as they have fulfilled their two-year volunteer mission in Laos.

The eight JICA volunteers paid a farewell visit to Mrs Saymonekham Mengnomek, Deputy Director General, Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Planning and Investment, on Jan 5. They were accompanied by Senior Representative of JICA Laos Office, Mr Shunsuke Sakudo.

Mrs Saymonekham was briefed about the efforts the Japanese volunteers have made with Lao counterparts.

The JICA volunteers are going to fly a home trip to Japan on Jan 10.

JICA has 57 Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCV) including six senior volunteers engaged in activities in Laos. They are working side by side with local counterparts in 13 provinces from north to south of the rapidly-developing country located at the heart of the Mekong region.

The Japanese volunteers have been working in various fields of expertise such as public health, education and sports, agriculture and forestry, culture, environment, infrastructure engineering, rural community development and more since the volunteer programme was launched more than five decades ago.     

One of the outgoing volunteers waving goodbye to Laos is Mr Akira Moriyama Senior Volunteer, who has volunteered at Tourism Marketing Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism for two years to promote inbound tourism of Laos to Japan and to assist to plan “Visit Lao Year 2018”.

The dispatch to the Lao PDR of Japanese Volunteers by the JICA is set to continue in a sustainable manner based on close cooperation and mutual agreement between the governments of the two countries.

More than 48,000 JICA volunteers have been dispatched worldwide since 1965.

Mrs Saymonekham said that Japanese volunteers have played an important role in the socio-economic development of the country.

KPL