Speeches

DCM Kristin Bauer Addresses Lao Business People at Conference on Normal Trade Relations (Fresno, California, May 14, 2005)

DCM Kristin Bauer Addresses Lao Business People at Conference on Normal Trade Relations

It is a great privilege for me to be in Fresno and able to address you today.

I would like to give you my vision of where the U.S.-Lao relationship is going. I want to talk a bit about conditions in Laos, and why I believe that Laos is moving in the right direction, however slow its progress might be. I want to tell you about what the U.S. is doing to help Laos move forward. Normal Trade Relations is now a reality, and I'm eager to talk about the chance it gives us to refocus the relationship on future opportunities rather than on simply overcoming past problems. I will then conclude with some thoughts on what we as Americans interested in Laos can do to help Laos progress.

Laos Remains Poor and Undeveloped

As Americans living in a country with the most modern infrastructure, educational opportunities, and health care, and with a government that is responsive to our needs, it is hard to appreciate just how different—how poor and undeveloped—Laos is.

Outside major cities, Lao infrastructure remains undeveloped. Less than two percent of rural roads are paved and many are impassable in the rainy season. Two-thirds of households have no electricity, and half of them lack access to safe water.

Life expectancy is low; child and maternal mortality rates are three to four times higher than those of other East Asian countries. Forty percent of children are underweight.

Half of all Lao students do not complete primary school. Nearly a third of children between the age of 6 and 14 do not attend school at all. Only half of rural schools offer classes up to grade 5.

There is little industry or manufacturing, and few jobs for the young people who reach working age every year.

Many of These Problems Are Self-Inflicted

Many of Laos' problems are self-inflicted. Laos ranks at the bottom of development statistics not because of events outside of anyone's control, but because of poor policies—poor political, economic, social, educational, health, and environmental policies.

Public health care and public education are poor because Laos spends so little on it.

And business activity—both agriculture and manufacturing—is hampered by the poor physical and commercial infrastructure and by government restrictions.

Also, few indigenous non-governmental organizations exist in Laos. Thus, there are almost no opportunities for Lao people to join together to provide these things for themselves.

In the political arena, the Lao government continues to seriously violate the human rights of its citizens. The country remains a one-party authoritarian state which permits no opposition and offers no avenues for citizens to express their desires. The Party holds a tight monopoly on all decision making about the political, economic and social course of the nation.

Although Lao people enjoy greater freedoms than only a few years earlier, the government continues to deny them many basic human rights, such as freedom of speech, assembly, and expression. The government owns and tightly controls the print and broadcast media, and prohibits any expressions of dissent with the political regime, arresting those who challenge the government's authority. Laos tightly limits access to its prisons. Also of concern is the Lao government's unwillingness to acknowledge publicly the existence of Hmong groups living deep in the Lao forest, who are either afraid or unwilling to come out.

Situation Bad, But Not Hopeless

In spite of the dismal picture I have just painted, the situation is not hopeless. In fact, I remain optimistic about Laos' future for two reasons.

The first reason is that the ideas of democracy and free enterprise, and of limited government and the rule of law, are influencing authoritarian governments around the world. Among Laos' ASEAN neighbors, Indonesia has thrown off decades of authoritarian rule and is moving toward the creation of a prosperous modern society. Cambodia and Vietnam are also moving forward with economic liberalization.

Laos, too, is feeling these influences. Since Laos joined ASEAN six years ago, many Lao officials have attended regional and international conferences, increasing Laos' exposure to the rest of the world. Those officials are realizing the need for greater Lao adherence to regional and international political and economic standards, practices, and norms. Laos' becoming Chairman of ASEAN last year, and its hosting of the ASEAN Leaders Summit, attended by 16 heads of state at the end of November 2004, was particularly helpful in bringing a large number of Lao officials into contact with their regional counterparts.

Thai television, which is popular in Vientiane and other parts of Laos close to Thailand, brings in news about more open political, economic, and media policies and practices. The Internet, too, is another source of information about these ideas and practices in other countries. These outside influences will eventually necessarily bring fundamental change in Laos.

The second reason I am optimistic about Laos' future is that I have seen how capable, hard-working, and productive many young Lao people are. We should remember that half of all Lao are under 18 years of age. More than 70 percent of the population was born after 1975. The young Lao professionals who work for international NGOs and businesses in Laos are building better lives for themselves and their country. The Lao Fulbright scholars I have met are all bright, interesting people eager to improve themselves and their country. It is only a matter of time before a critical mass of such people exists, and major changes occur in Lao society and government.

American Assistance To The Lao People

Change will come to Laos. But that does not mean that the United States is sitting idly by waiting for that change to occur. On the contrary, at the American Embassy, we are hard at work in two ways: helping the Lao people help themselves, and pushing the Lao government to create the institutions necessary for a more modern, more democratic, and more prosperous Lao society.

In the past few years, the U.S. government has provided more than $10 million dollars per year to fund a variety of programs to help the Lao people improve their lives.

• We have provided funding of over $3 million a year for mother and child health programs, for vulnerable children, and for HIV/AIDS community awareness programs.
  
• Another million dollars a year has gone for humanitarian programs such as relief for Lao farmers hit by drought or flooding.
  
• The United States is the largest provider of assistance to help Laos rid itself of unexploded ordnance. This year we are providing over $2.5 million dollars. In addition, each year we provide more than a million dollars to NGOs that carry out programs for the victims of unexploded ordnance.
  
• We have also provided almost a million dollars a year for anti-trafficking-in-persons programs. These programs help victims of trafficking acquire the training they need to find work in Laos, and alert other young people to potential dangers.
  
• The U.S. provides several million dollars a year to help Laos eliminate the cultivation, trafficking, and consumption of opium, amphetamines and other dangerous drugs. These funds support two rural development projects in opium growing areas in Phongasli and Luang Prabang provinces. They have built community detox facilities, and primary schools and other education centers in the villages. And they have built roads so that farmers can switch from opium to other crops and then get them to market.

All of these activities, and many others, have helped Lao people to help themselves.

Pushing the Lao Government

In addition to providing assistance to the Lao people, the Embassy is constantly engaged in efforts to move the Lao government forward toward establishing the political and economic institutions necessary to support a prosperous and free society.

In meetings with government officials, the Ambassador and I continually raise the issues of human rights, religious freedom, ethnic minority rights, and democratic reform.

Here are some examples of other Embassy activities in these areas:

• Last year the United States funded a program in support of good governance. In that program, the U.S. Department of Justice worked with the Lao Ministry of Justice to establish an Appeals Court in Laos, and to set up the system that will ensure enforcement of Court decisions, a process that goes to the very heart of the rule of law.
  
• The Embassy has organized visits by senior U.S. officials to push for greater democracy and respect for human rights. In November 2004, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor visited Vientiane and met with senior officials to remind them of the importance of human rights, and to press them on the continuing problem regarding Laos' poor prison conditions, the status of the Hmong insurgents, and the need to respect the beliefs of religious monitories.
  
• We have closely followed the cases of known political prisoners, raising their plights often with high-level official contacts and urging their quick release. At least in part as a result of this international interest, the Lao government released a number of political prisoners during the year.
  
• Throughout the year, members of the Embassy traveled to remote parts of the country to gather information first-hand about the treatment of Laos' ethnic minorities. We have used these field visits to learn about the status of the ethnic Hmong insurgency, as well as about conditions for former insurgents who had surrendered and accepted Lao government resettlement packages. Through these visits and through numerous conversations with Lao villagers, the Embassy developed a much clearer picture of the status of those insurgents still in the jungle and of those who had come out. The Ambassador, I, and other Embassy staff met with dozens of senior officials, including members of the Politburo and provincial governors, to discuss the problem of insurgents still living in the forest and to urge the Lao government to resolve this conflict through peaceful, rather than military, means.
  
• We have conducted an ongoing dialogue with the Lao government to promote religious tolerance. In February 2004, Ambassador Robert Seiple of the Institute for Global Engagement conducted a State Department-funded seminar on religious freedom for local officials. More than 50 officials attended the one-day seminar, the first of its kind in Laos, to learn more about the Lao people's right to practice the religion of their choice.
  
• To promote greater Lao understanding of modern political practices, the Embassy sponsored and organized a month-long course on Comparative Political Systems, which provided information on international political systems and norms to Lao diplomats and officials from a dozen Ministries and offices.

Other U.S. Activities in Laos

The programs and activities I have just mentioned are some of the ways that the Embassy continues to encourage the Lao government toward progress in establishment of modern political practices, and greater respect for the rights of the Lao people.

But U.S. Embassy activities do more than help the Lao people and encourage the Lao government to change in positive ways. We also pursue U.S. goals in several other important areas.

Achieving the fullest possible accounting for Americans still listed as missing from war in Southeast Asia remains a key component of our bilateral relationship with Laos. As our relationship broadens and becomes more normal, we are seeing the benefits in greater cooperation and support for our recovery operations in Laos.

On terrorism, Laos deepened cooperation with the United States. Last year, our two governments worked together on training to combat terrorism -- strengthening customs and law enforcement, enabling the financial sector to monitor transactions, and helping Laos accede to international conventions.

Normal Trade Relations

We now reach what I think we would all agree is the most exciting and momentous development of the past year: the establishment of Normal Trade Relations between the United States and Laos.

As we have been hearing this morning, normal trade relations means that products from Laos can now enter the United States at a much lower tariff rate then before and vice versa. The Embassy is now conducting a series of seminars to educate Lao businesses about how to take advantage of the opportunities in the US market open to them. We are helping them find American partners to work with, a process that benefits both Lao and American businesses.

But Normal Trade Relations, and the Bilateral Trade Agreement between the U.S. and Laos, do more than open up export opportunities. The BTA also imposes requirements on the Lao government—requirements to provide protection for intellectual property rights, for better enforcement of contracts and greater adherence to the rule of law, for more transparent and open investment and trade procedures—in short, for the whole system of legal and economic institutions necessary for trade and investment to function. Normal Trade Relations is thus a key step forward in our relations with Laos, and in our ability to push for change in Laos' political and economic systems.

Pressure for these changes will also come from Lao and American businesses. American businesses and investors will demand higher quality from Lao producers and resist corruption. Lao people and private sector firms doing business with Americans like you will be exposed to American ideals of all kinds, and push for the procedures and practices most conducive to trade and investment. The Lao government will need to respond if it wants to take full advantage of America's market and investment. Ultimately, the result of NTR will be greater economic and political freedoms in Laos, stronger rule of law and a better life for those involved in trade destined for the U.S. market or doing business with Americans.

What Americans Can do to Help Laos

As I said in the beginning, the Lao people are some of the poorest in the world. Many Lao-Americans send money back to relatives every year. This is important, because the government of Laos doesn't have the resources to establish the conditions conducive to progress and prosperity. But there are other ways that Americans can help Lao move forward.

Americans can establish business enterprises with Lao companies. You know more about the American market than the Lao do, and you can judge which Lao products might be most marketable in the United States. And you have access to sources of capital that can be used for investments in Laos. Joint Lao-American companies might be the best way to generate individual gain and Lao development. But of course you must explore these opportunities with your eyes wide open. Legal protections for investors and businesses are very limited in Laos. However, the more foreign businesses there are operating in Laos, the greater the incentive the Lao government has to streamline procedures and eliminate corrupt practices.

Beyond this, Lao schools and educational centers also need help. Americans can, and many already do, provide books for schools and libraries. Americans can also provide scholarships for Lao students. Tuition at private colleges in Laos is only about $500 to $1,000 a year. Thus even a small scholarship can make a big difference to a struggling student in Laos.

And Americans can visit Laos just for the fun of it. Laos is an interesting place—as those of you who have been there know. It's people are composed of dozens of different ethnic groups, among them the Lao, Hmong, Khmu, Yao, Tai Daeng, Tai Dam, each with interesting and different customs, handicrafts, and ways of life unique to the conditions in which they live. Many provinces have beautiful natural scenery and opportunities for environmental tourism. Laos has much to explore and enjoy.

Conclusion

In sum, Laos has a choice to make: it can continue with authoritarian rule, or it can follow the lead of most of its ASEAN neighbors toward economic and political reform.

At the same time, the United States and its allies in the region must also make a choice: between ignoring Laos or engaging it.

I believe that engagement with the Lao people and Lao government is the right choice. Without engagement with the U.S. and its ASEAN allies, Laos could become exploited by countries that may have their eye on its rich agricultural, mineral and hydroelectric power potential, but little regard for its rich biodiversity, pristine forests, and its people.

All of these concerns point to a country that needs help from the international community—help in a responsible way.

And at the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane, we are doing just that. We are doing all we can to engage Laos, to guide it down the path toward economic, political, and social reform toward greater opportunity and prosperity. We are working with the Lao government and the Lao people to improve human rights, strengthen the rule of law, find missing Americans, and promote private sector market development because these are all interests that the United States and Laos share. The recent passage of Normal Trade Relations has given us a unique opportunity to progress more quickly toward these goals, and we must all take full advantage of it.

Working together—government and business, we can help foster the conditions to see Laos become a prosperous, stable, and democratic country, friendly with its neighbors, actively participating in international affairs and fully engaged in trade and commerce with the world.

Thank you.