Laos Prepares to sign International Conventions

(KPL) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised on 14 July at ICTC in
Vientiane a seminar to select and consider the UN conventions which Lao government to sign in the near future.

The seminar discussed 12 conventions out of 53 offered by the UN for Laos
and their positives and negatives of becoming a signatory to the
conventions.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will select four conventions for
ratification.
The conventions are about protecting people from enforced disappearance.
Those to be ratified are the convention against corruption, convention on
the law of the non- navigational use of international watercourses and the
convention on the control of trans-boundary movement and disposal of
hazardous waste.
Mr. Alounkeo Kittikhoune, assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs who
chaired the meeting said that the participation in the international
treaties reaffirmed the country's commitment to international law as the
basis of just and mutually beneficial international relations and
co-operation.
He added that signing international conventions raised Laos's image and
reputation in the international arena, creating favourable conditions for
attracting more foreign investment and development co-operation from the
international community.
Laos has signed the UN convention against corruption and the convention on
the rights of persons with disabilities, and ratified the international
covenant on economic, social and cultural rights and the UNESCO convention
on cultural diversity.