Today, Mr. Koizumi Tsutomu, Ambassador of Japan to the Lao PDR, and his delegation paid a visit to the UXO Lao clearance site at Ban Lak 45 (Km 45) in Pakxong District, Champasak Province.

Mr. Anousak Phongsa, National Programme Director of UXO Lao, together with the UXO Lao team, had the honor of welcoming the Ambassador and briefing him on the current situation and ongoing efforts to address the unexploded ordnance issue in the Lao PDR. The briefing highlighted progress achieved, as well as the difficulties and challenges encountered during field operations.

At present, the Government of Japan is providing assistance to UXO Lao to support operations in three southern provinces—Champasak, Salavan, and Sekong. Among the southern provinces, this area has seen the most extensive application of Japanese technology to address the UXO problem in the Lao PDR, including the use of brush-cutting machines, mechanical clearance of cluster munitions, and pilot testing of the ALIS detector. The ALIS detector is capable of producing three-dimensional (3D) images when UXO is detected in the field. These efforts aim to accelerate UXO clearance activities nationwide in support of achieving Sustainable Development Goal 18, “Lives Safe from UXO,” a specific national priority goal of the Lao PDR.