Yearbook 2010
Laos. When Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith traveled to Washington in July, he became the highest-ranking representative of the Lao government to visit the United States since the Communist Party took power in the country in 1975. Thongloun Sisoulith and his US colleague Hillary Clinton signed, among other things, a civil aviation agreement. The idea is that the agreement will facilitate trade and tourism between the countries.
According to COUNTRYAAH, Laos has a population of 7.062 million (2018). The first meeting of states that signed the Convention banning cluster weapons, CCM, was held in the capital Vientiane in November. The agreement was signed in Oslo in December 2008 and the Convention came into force on August 1, 2010. According to softwareleverage, Laos is reported to be the country in the world with the highest concentration of undetected cluster bombs on its land.
One of the largest hydropower projects in Southeast Asia was commissioned when the Nam Theun 2 dam was inaugurated. The dam, built with international assistance, is expected to provide poor Laos with large income through the export of electricity to Thailand. The water dam affects tens of thousands of people along the Xe Bang Fai River.
Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh resigned unexpectedly in December. He cited family reasons, but judges believed that internal party riots were the cause. Parliament appointed Thongsing Thammavong as new head of government.
The former French protectorate of Laos is now an independent state, with a territory of 236,800 km 2. It is the only state of the Indochinese peninsula that has exclusively land borders and an essentially mountainous territory.
- Abbreviation Finder: Check to see how the two letter abbreviation of LA stands for the country of Laos in geography.
Population
The number of residents is not known precisely, which according to the most accredited sources is around 2 million residents (1960), which makes Laos the least populated country in Indochina in both absolute and relative terms; the density is in fact 7-8 residents / km 2. The population is made up of different ethnic groups. The Thais generally live in houses on stilts and congregate in the valleys, where they cultivate rice and carry out fishing and farming. On the slopes, between 500 and 1000 m of altitude, there are, however, very dispersed primitive tribes of Khas, presumed autochthonous, and at even higher altitudes the Meo, mountaineers of Chinese or Central Asian origin, estimated at about 50,000, who live in one-storey dwellings, at ground level, grouped in small villages and cultivate the tops of the reliefs deforested by fire. There are few foreigners: a thousand and perhaps fewer Europeans, about 15,000 Vietnamese and 10-12,000 Chinese, mostly traders. 95% of the population is devoted to agriculture and the cities have a modest number of residents: Vientiane, the administrative capital, an elongated center on the left of the Mekong, is the most populated (80,000 residents); Luang-Prabang, the residential capital, at the confluence of the Nam-Khan in the Mekong, has just 8,000 residents, as is Savannaket, a center of trade with Thailand and central Vietnam, and Paksé, an agricultural market in the southern region. Less populated Thakhek, the export center of the pond which, like all the cities mentioned, stands on the banks of the Mekong. In the mountains of northern Laos are Xieng-Khouang and Sam Neua, at the center of agricultural and livestock regions, but their development is limited by the lack of communications. such as Savannaket, a center of trade with Thailand and central Vietnam, and Paksé, an agricultural market in the southern region. Less populated Thakhek, the export center of the pond which, like all the cities mentioned, stands on the banks of the Mekong. In the mountains of northern Laos are Xieng-Khouang and Sam Neua, at the center of agricultural and livestock regions, but their development is limited by the lack of communications. such as Savannaket, a center of trade with Thailand and central Vietnam, and Paksé, an agricultural market in the southern region. Less populated Thakhek, the export center of the pond which, like all the cities mentioned, stands on the banks of the Mekong. In the mountains of northern Laos are Xieng-Khouang and Sam Neua, at the center of agricultural and livestock regions, but their development is limited by the lack of communications.