(KPL) On May 31, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Saleumxay Kommasith received outgoing Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the Lao PDR John Pearson as the latter is concluding his diplomatic obligations in the country.

At amicable talks in Vientiane, Deputy Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith appreciated the ambassador’s achievement of his diplomatic task.

The vice premier appreciated the ambassador’s active contributions to strengthening the relations and cooperation between Laos and the United Kingdom over the past almost four years, especially his mobilization of Chevening scholarships for Lao students, and his efforts to promote the exchange of high-level delegations between the two countries including the visit by then UK’s Minister for Asia and the Middle East Amanda Milling in 2022, and the coming visit, Jun 4-5, of UK’s Minister of State for Indo-Pacific Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan.

He also praised the ambassador for helping secure the UK government’s assistance for Covid-19 response in the Lao PDR including over 1 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine and personal protective equipment (PPE) worth more than GBP 255,000.

The ambassador was also appreciated for his coordination of UK’s technical support for green and clean energy development in the Lao PDR, and a 100-million-GBP environment and biodiversity protection project that benefits three Mekong countries – Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as his efforts to list Laos as a beneficiary of UK’s  new Developing Countries Trading Scheme along with Cambodia and Myanmar.

In reply, the ambassador expressed gratitude to the government and people of the Lao PDR for supporting him in accomplishing his diplomatic duty in the Lao PDR.

KPL