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Lao PDR and ADB Sign Partnership Agreement to Fight Poverty

MANILA, PHILIPPINES (28 September 2001) - The Government of Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) today signed a Poverty Reduction Partnership Agreement in Vientiane.

Poverty reduction partnership agreement signing in Vientiane on 28 September. In photo (seated, from left to right) are ADB Vice President (West) Myoung-Ho Shin and Lao PDR Deputy Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

The agreement, signed by Lao PDR Deputy Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith and ADB Vice President (West) Myoung-Ho Shin, aims to reduce the proportion of people living in poverty to 10 percent from the current 39 percent by 2010.

The agreement sets specific, time-bound targets and includes detailed mechanisms to monitor progress. The goals, to be achieved by 2005, include:

• providing 60 percent of rural villages with piped water;
• providing 80 percent of rural districts with all-weather roads to provincial towns;
• providing 60 percent of villages with electricity;
• reducing maternal mortality to 300 per 100,000 per births:
• raising net primary school enrollment to 85 percent and increasing female enrollment in primary school to at least 45 percent;
• increasing adult literacy to 80 percent; and
• reducing unsustainable shifting cultivation to less than 30 percent.

ADB will coordinate closely with development partners to help the Government achieve these targets, which are in line with the International Development Goals to which Lao PDR is a signatory.

ADB plans to provide concessional, low-interest loans to Lao PDR totaling $45-55 million per year. In addition, ADB will provide technical assistance grants of about $5 million per year to prepare quality projects and assist in capacity building and policy development. Close monitoring and analysis of the poverty situation and benchmark targets through extensive consultations will be a key component of ADB's assistance.

The Government and ADB recently developed ADB's new Country Strategy and Program (CSP) for Lao PDR after an extensive consultation process. The CSP places poverty reduction through community participation at the core of ADB's operations. ADB and the Government will improve targeting of resources to ensure faster and more equitably distributed social development and economic growth.

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