KPL
(KPL) The government of Lao PDR and the government of the Swiss Confederation have agreed on a mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, special, or service passports.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Saleumxay Kommasith, right, shaking hands with Ambassador of Switzerland to the Lao PDR, Mr Christoph Burgener.
(KPL) The government of Lao PDR and the government of the Swiss Confederation have agreed on a mutual visa exemption for holders of diplomatic, special, or service passports.
Under the agreement, Lao citizens who hold diplomatic and special or service passports will receive a visa exemption when they enter, exit, transit, or stay in Switzerland for less than 90 days.
Lao PDR and Switzerland established diplomatic relations in 1975.
The government of Switzerland has constantly provided assistance to the Lao PDR through the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Union, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and the GIZ.
The SDC also has a strategy for the Mekong region and will renew Switzerland’s development policy commitment in the region and in the three countries with bilateral programmes: Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam.
The strategy will respond to the needs of the partner countries and is in line with the principles of Swiss development policy as defined in the Parliamentary Message on International Cooperation 2013–2016.
The strategy was formulated in dialogue with the partners of Switzerland. It responds to the major challenges facing the region prior to the start of the ASEAN Community at the end of 2015.
For Lao PDR, governance and citizen participation, agriculture and food security, as well as employment and vocational education are the three domains of the cooperation. Switzerland helps its partner countries to narrow development gaps with the other ASEAN member countries.
It does so with a focus on the inclusion of disadvantaged groups to promote good governance for all, and equality among both genders and ethnic minority groups. Adaptation to climate change is vested with increasing importance as the Mekong region is being particularly affected.
The signing ceremony for the agreement was held yesterday between Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Saleumxay Kommasith and Ambassador of Switzerland to the Lao PDR, Mr Christoph Burgener, and was witnessed by relevant officials of both sides.
KPL
