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Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs visited the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences of the National University of Laos
His Excellency, Mr. Jean Asselborn, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, arrived at the campus of the National University of Laos on June 13, 2018, amidst an enthusiastic and cheering crowd of students of the FLP.
Prof. Dr. Somsy Gnophanxay, President of the National University of Laos, and Associate Prof. Viengvilay Thiengchanhxay, Dean of the university’s Faculty of Law and Political Science (FLP), led the welcoming committee in warmly receiving the Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Dr. Gnophanxay, in his introductory remarks, announced that Minister Asselborn’s visit was serendipitous as it came at a time “when the entire Lao people are joyfully celebrating many special occasions, namely: the 43rd anniversary of the proclamation of the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic and the 21st anniversary of diplomatic relations between Laos and Luxembourg”. He also acknowledged that Luxembourg has provided more than 50 million Euros to support the health, rural development, vocational education and governance sectors of Lao PDR.
He stated that Luxembourg has been working on increasing cooperation with the Lao people, as evidenced by the official launch of the Luxembourg Embassy and the LuxDev regional office in Vientiane in 2016 and the establishment of a project office for LAO/031 at the Faculty of Law and Political Science – “The Luxembourg funded project LAO/031 which will run from 2017 to 2022 has been designed to support legal training and teaching and promote the rule of law in the Lao PDR. This project continues and expands on LAO/023 which was implemented between 2010 and 2015”
It’s important to note that in order to achieve the overall objective of promoting the rule of law in the Lao PDR, the project will focus on developing legal institutions, upgrading standards and improving the enabling legal environment. The project is currently developing the legal research capacity of teachers and supporting the development of an adapted law curriculum.
During an open forum with the students of the FLP, Minister Asselborn was asked by students of varied questions involving foreign policy issues, such as the future of the LAO PDR-Luxembourg relations, the problem of international terrorism and rule of law, and the lessons learned in EU integration vis-à-vis ASEAN Economic Community. To their delight, the Luxembourg Foreign Minister always answered the issues raised within the context of what he said were sound foreign policies of Luxembourg. On one question, the Foreign Minister said that there is a need to promote the rule of law and respect for the human rights in order that Lao PDR can sustain peace and promote more prosperity.
The visit was witnessed by the Vice-Presidents of NUOL, the Dean of the Faculty of Law and Political Science, the Head of International Relations Department, representatives from Ministry of Education and Sports, representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vice-Deans, Heads of Department, Divisions, university members, members of the diplomatic corps, Olivier Hecquet, Resident Representative of LuxDev - Luxembourg Development Cooperation Agency, representatives from the Institute of Legal Studies and Technical Assistance (ILSTA), the team members of LuxDev Project LAO/031, headed by its Chief Technical Adviser, Reginald M. Pastrana, students and other guests.
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