Laos Gears Up for 10-Year UXO Clearance Strategic Plan, Army Official Reports

Lt. Col. Phonekeo Oradom, Head of the UXO Clearance and Disaster Relief Training Centre of the Lao People’s Army, stated during a panel discussion at a side event of the ongoing 3rd Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in Vientiane on September 18, 2026, that the national unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance sector is gearing up for its first 10-year strategic plan, spanning from 2027 to 2036. The results reflect three years of change across the World Bank Group as it evolves to work more effectively with the private sector, becoming faster and simpler, bringing the public and private sides of the institution closer together, and expanding the tools available to investors. The agencies within the World Bank Group have moved closer together in each country, with a single point of contact across public and private sector work and integrated strategies for each country based on local needs and development priorities. A Private Sector Investment Laboratory complements that effort, helping to identify the barriers that hold back investment in developing economies and developing a work plan to address them. The World Bank Group has pursued a similar agenda across the institution, looking to improve business and regulatory environments, expanding guarantees and local-currency financing, addressing foreign-exchange challenges, increasing equity tools, and advancing new ways for institutional investment at scale. The World Bank Group has issued more than $25 billion in guarantees, surpassing its 2030 goal of $20 billion four years ahead of schedule. This growth was led by the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform. Created in 2024, the platform gives clients and investors a single, simple point of access for guarantee of products from across the institution. “Three years ago, our shareholders and clients were clear: utilize World Bank Group financing and knowledge to mobilize more private capital and become a better partner to the private sector. We changed how we work to do that—faster, simpler, and as one World Bank Group,” said World Bank Group President, Ajay Banga. “The result is $112 billion mobilized this year, over three times more than where we started. But the number only matters if the capital goes where it can create opportunity and jobs. That is the work ahead: keep removing barriers, keep expanding the pool of investors, and keep driving more capital into developing economies.” Job creation is the World Bank Group’s central priority. In developing economies, 1.2 billion young people will reach working age over the next 10 to 15 years, while only around 420 million projected jobs are to be created. The private sector creates 9 out of 10 jobs in these economies. The World Bank Group’s jobs strategy is centered around three mutually reinforcing drivers: investing in human and physical infrastructure; creating business ready regulatory environments; and helping the private sector expand. It targets five job-rich sectors where these fundamentals can unlock investment and employment at scale: infrastructure and energy, agribusiness, healthcare, tourism, and value-added manufacturing. In FY26, 55 percent of total financing—own account and capital mobilized—went to these job-rich sectors, helping turn stronger foundations and better policies into private investment, business growth, and jobs. That capital is not just concentrated in the most accessible markets and private investment flows not only to the most accessible markets. It is reaching lower-income economies too, where regional and local investors increasingly complement global capital in financing businesses and creating jobs. The World Bank Group is now working to build on that progress by expanding the range of investors able to participate. Through its originate-to-distribute work, the Group is developing ways to package and distribute investments to institutional investors at greater scale—connecting more of the world’s pools of long-term capital with opportunities in developing economies. The ambition is straightforward: mobilize more capital from more sources, and put more of it to work in creating jobs and economic opportunity. 9/18/2026 2:06:41 PM Lt. Col. Phonekeo Oradom, Head of the UXO Clearance and Disaster Relief Training Centre of the Lao People’s Army, stated during a panel discussion at a side event of the ongoing 3rd Review Conference of the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) in Vientiane on September 18, 2026, that the national unexploded ordnance (UXO) clearance sector is gearing up for its first 10-year strategic plan, spanning from 2027 to 2036. 9/18/2026 11:22:22 AM Ms. Manivong is a midwife working in Sanamxay District, Attapeu Province. In her community, she saw how pregnancy could bring fear, especially during emergencies, when access to care became uncertain. 9/18/2026 10:30:36 AM Senior Party and State official Phet Phomphiphak led a high-level delegation on a two-day inspection of severe flood-hit areas in Oudomxay Province, delivering financial aid and urging accelerated infrastructure restoration. Heavy seasonal monsoon rains caused floods and landslides across three separate periods in August, severely impacting five districts in the northern province. 9/18/2026 9:34:07 AM Vientiane, Lao PDR, September 17, 2026 — The Ministry of Health of Lao PDR, the Government of Luxembourg, UNFPA, UNICEF and WHO today launched Phase IV of the UN Joint Programme on Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCAH). The phase IV of the Luxembourg-funded partnership will support the Ministry’s RMNCAH Strategy and Action Plan 2026–2030, launched at the September 16, 2026, as health leaders from 17 provinces and 1 Capital across the country signed a Commitment Charter for its implementation. 9/18/2026 9:11:12 AM (KPL/VNA) Public security forces of Vietnam and Laos have cooperated to bust a transnational criminal ring operating in cyberspace in the Lao northern province of Bokeo, using computer networks, telecommunications networks and electronic devices to illegally appropriate property. 18/09/2026 10:04 18/09/2026 09:43 18/09/2026 09:01 18/09/2026 08:58 17/09/2026 21:48