Laos
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to see examples
of projects
in this country
Laos is a low-income country with a diverse population of many ethnic groups, mainly mountain-dwellers, who are the target of the country's main development goal of poverty reduction. The European Union (EU) supports Laos in prioritising poverty reduction and is now shifting support away from targeted project aid towards more sector-based support. This more holistic approach pays greater attention to strengthening the country’s own efforts to improve governance and roll out economic reforms, facilitating its integration into the regional and global economy.
EU Aid programmes 2007-2013
A new EU-Laos Strategy Paper for 2007-2013 
[227 KB] 
was adopted in 2007 and the multi-indicative annual programme for the first four years (2007-2010) allocates €33 million for support to:
- The government’s reform agenda under the National Development Strategy (in the form of budget support)
- Sustainable development in the uplands
- Governance and human rights
- Trade and economic cooperation.
Recent assistance
The overall amount of European Commission development aid to Laos during 1993-2006 was approximately €100 million and, prior to 2007, it was governed by the EU-Laos Country Strategy for 2002-2006 [606 KB] . Assistance to Laos started during the early 1990s, when the main priorities were rural and urban development, and support for refugees returning from Thailand. The 2002-2006 strategy expanded the scope of cooperation to social sectors (education and health) and trade, while maintaining the focus on rural development as the main area of support. Governance was identified as a cross-cutting issue.
Assistance is also provided for the fight against drugs, mine clearance, and food security. Assistance in the form of grants mainly to civil society is also provided through the Asia regional programmes (for a total of 27 projects) for higher education, trade and investment, the environment, non-governmental organisations working in Laos, as well as for governance and human rights activities.
Since 2004, Laos has benefited from the general Erasmus Mundus programme. It is also one of the 16 Asian countries eligible under the regional Erasmus Mundus Asian Window (€10 million for the period 2005-2007).
More information
The European External Action Service is responsible for drawing up the EU-Laos cooperation strategy.
Details of these and other funded projects and programmes, including regional and thematic Programmes can be found on website of the Delegation of the European Union to Laos.