The project produced reports of the legal study on property ownership and the socio-economic sample surveys of the local population conducted in all five case study sites – St Louis (Senegal); Porto Novo (Benin); Tongi and Xitang of the six Canal Towns of the Lower Yangzte River (China), Luang Prabang (Laos) and Georgetown (Guyana).

In Cambodia, the second subregional strategic planning workshop in Phnom Penh will take place with representatives from China, Laos and Cambodia and an evaluator from UNESCO Headquarters, in order to share progress and lessons learned.

However, the constitutions of Bahrain, Brunei, China, Comoros, Cuba, Egypt, Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Laos, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Oman, Panama, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, United Arab Emirates and Yemen do not expressly recognise the right to life, and the constitutions of Brunei, Djibouti, Gabon, Qatar and Yemen do not recognise the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.

Twelve species: mainly in North America (United States, Baja California in Mexico) and Asia from the Himalayas to Japan (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Japan, Kashmir, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Vietnam), one species in SE Europe (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, former Yugoslavia); four species (one endemic, two introduced) in China.

And between 2007 and 2008, there are 132 foreign students from Vietnam, Laos and China (scholarships) and Korea (private) and so forth who are continuing their study at the public institutions of higher education.

The Viet Nam-Laos Joint Stock Electricity Investment and Development Company began construction of the 250 MW Xekaman 3 hydropower project in Southern Laos in 2006.

Yunnan has been building relationships with central governments in the Great Mekong Sub-Region, and even doing economic planning for the Ministry of Industry and Planning in Laos.

Among the Asian consulting markets analyzed in the research: ANZEA (Australia, New Zealand): ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore & Thailand); Greater China (Hong Kong, Taiwan), India, Japan, Mainland China, South Korea as well as the less developed markets of Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.

The project Terms of Reference required to establish the scope for the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment was submitted to the Laos government, enabling the permitting process to commence while further data collation and field work is carried out.

The ongoing projects include: a project on illegal trade in Asia, the development and TPMP for Croatia, the development of a licensing system in Laos, two tranches of the national CFC phase-out project in the Philippines with the World Bank, a halon bank in Thailand with the World Bank, a CFC servicing sector plan development in Serbia and Montenegro with UNIDO, and a development of a handbook project in the global region.

To prevent these acts and to ensure the continuity of the forest resources, the Royal Government has taken up immediate measures to preserve the forest, to ban log and plank exports, and called for the neighbouring countries such as Thailand, Vietnam and Laos to block the log exports from Cambodia.

Elsewhere in South East Asia, President Hu Jintao made state visits to Laos and Vietnam in March 2006; Vietnam in 2005; Malaysia in December 2005; Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines in April 2005; and Malaysia and Singapore in 2002.

Thai energy companies are now conducting feasibility studies throughout the region, especially in Laos where they are evaluating more than 10 hydropower schemes, including two controversial projects on the Mekong River’s mainstream.

The Company is committed to the sustainability frameworks of each organisation and has made its Sepon mine in Laos available as a pilot testing site to assist the ICMM to develop a guide on handling and resolving community concerns and grievances.

In addition, the Government of China has waived tariffs and import VAT for 921,400 tons of alternative products such as sugar cane, corn, rubber, bananas and rice from the north of Myanmar and the Laos People’s Democratic Republic.

A seminar on current international issues relevant to forests and forest products was organized by the secretariat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in preparation of the tenth ASEAN Senior Officials on Forestry meeting, held back-to-back with the seminar in Laos on 12 and 13 July 2007.