(KPL) The Lao PDR plans to nominate a range of cultural traditions and key sites for international recognition over the next five years (2026–2030), as part of national priorities announced by Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone during the rollout of the 10th Five-Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan.

The government will seek inscription of several traditions on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list, including Larb, the Sou Khuan ceremony, Pu Yer – Ya Yer, Lao New Year (Bun Pi Mai Lao), and Khao Tom–Khao Lam. It will also pursue World Heritage status for Nakai-Nam Theun National Park, the Plain of Jars in Houaphanh Province, and That Ing Hang.

Education targets include achieving a 90 percent enrollment rate for five-year-old children, keeping the lower secondary school dropout rate below 8 percent, and producing 50,000 graduates from vocational and technical training programs. Health goals aim to reduce newborn mortality to below 10 per 1,000 live births and under-five mortality to below 25 per 1,000.

Labor and social welfare measures focus on skills training for 650,000 people and job placement for 411,000 workers in domestic and overseas markets, alongside reducing the national poverty rate to a single digit and lifting more than 100,000 families out of poverty. The plan also targets reducing acute malnutrition among children under five to 5 percent.

Environmental priorities include increasing national forest cover to 70 percent, issuing 150,000 land titles outside forest areas, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and boosting absorption by 60 percent compared to the business-as-usual scenario, expanding meteorological coverage to 35 underserved districts, and installing 25 hydrological stations in flood-prone areas.

To strengthen regional integration, authorities plan to construct and upgrade 937.5 kilometers of national highways along ASEAN economic corridors to support an 11-ton axle load, cut import-export processing time by 45 percent by 2030, and raise the share of exports under preferential trade schemes to 65 percent of total export value.

In governance and public administration, the plan targets developing three provinces into strategic units, 18 districts into comprehensively strong units, and 640 sub-districts into development units. Authorities also aim to establish at least 35 one-stop service centers and adjudicate over 90 percent of criminal cases and more than 75 percent of civil cases.

KPL